Austinist CD Review: Brightblack Morning Light's Brightblack Morning Light

The eponymous debut from Matador’s Brightblack Morning Light woozily stumbles out of your speakers, reeking of schwaggy weed and B.O. It's the aural equivalent of that mooching hippie your roommate had that brief fling with. Sure, they’re broken up now, but he’s trying to get on his feet while the jam band comes together. You won’t even notice him.

Trust us: the last thing you want is this thug couch-surfing at your place, raiding your fridge, and breaking your guitar strings. Soon, you'll be picking three different kinds of hair out of the shower drain, swearing under your breath.

Prevent this from happening to your ears. Brightblack Morning Light is as inconsequential and lazy in its arrangement and execution as that cheeze-doodle-craving houseguest. Song titles like “Star Blanket River Child” and “Black Feather Wishes Rise” suddenly become achingly annoying after you’re exposed to their foot-dragging sonic counterparts.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with repetition. There is nothing wrong with pot-fueled noodling. This disc has both in spades. One can even forgive nonsensical song titles written simply for the sake of nonsense. Maddeningly, though, BML still can't offer anything in the way of substance to make it more than the sum of its parts. As such, we must respectfully disagree with Will Oldham, the indie icon who “discovered” the band. It's beyond our ken how he could sit through three tours of this, let alone a single 50-minute record. Excepting “A River Could Be Loved," which (gasp!) adds an acoustic piano, each track is virtually indistinguishable from the last. Distant siren-like vocals warbled over bluesy keys will seem kinda nice on the album opener, but 45 minutes later you’ll probably forget you left this drug-addled snooze-fest on.

Brightblack Morning Light's Brightblack Morning Light is available in stores today, June 20th.