After releasing a couple of high-caliber EPs and having their song "Come Home" licensed for an Apple iPod commercial, when Brooklyn psych-rockers CHAPPO released their debut LP, 2012's Moonwater, they really appeared to put their best foot forward. It was full of both attitude and vulnerability, versatile without being disjointed, tremendously fun and loose, but also experienced- and confident-sounding; a go-big-or-go-home-type release. It turns out that's just the band, because three years later, Future Former Self brings it from beginning to end, too. It's a concept album about protagonist Rene, who travels through a black hole and experiences distorted memories, emotions, and senses of self, time, and place (which occasions lyrics like "It's just the universe/It happened years ago"). However, a narrative isn't really apparent without prior knowledge and is pretty hazy even with it, and that's OK because the concept best serves as a heads-up that things are going to get weird and maybe extraordinary. A mixed analog and digital production, the record hits on some style influences, including the sparse and anxious Between the Buttons Stones-evoking ballad "Something's Ringing" (which is clearly about either tinnitus or space travel), the '70s cowbell metal in "Orange Afternoon," and the funky disco romp "Mad Magic," featuring the blown-up rhythm section of keyboardist Chris Olson and drummer Zac Colwell. All this and more are done with CHAPPO's distinct voice and production -- again mixed by Steve Wall (Lucius, Gretchen Parlato) and produced by Colwell, this time along with Wall -- for a sound that's like if Michael Hutchence-era INXS and the Flaming Lips traveled back in time to the '70s and had a love child at an arena rock show, in space. Standout songs include the driving, trippy, irresistibly dance-provoking "I'm Not Ready," which highlights lead singer and band namesake Alex Chappo's nettled falsetto as he transforms "try" into a two-syllable word, and the super-grooving "I Don't Need the Sun," which incorporates birds, crowd noise, guitarist Dave Feddock's syncopated hooks, and a song-long rant that includes: "I don't need the sea to keep me swimming/I don't need the sun to keep me warm/I don't need the sky to keep me dreaming/I don't need the beach to calm me down." Established fans of the band will surely be pleased, and many others will be disarmed; like Moonwater, Future Former Self is full of sass, grooves, sexiness, sugar, spice, and astronaut tales. Rene would say it's a trip.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo