Sounds Like:  Your new best friends made a record.

What wrong with having some fun?  I feel sometimes we shortchange the albums that are just fun.  I know I was guilty of shortchanging this fine, first record from Being Dead.  It’s been in constant rotation since it came out, but I always just tossed it off a fun breezy listen. It was only when I start to pay attention to how frequently i was reaching for it did I realize this record is no joke.  Clocking in at just under thirty-six minutes, it backs a wallop in its thirteen songs.

First the sound hits a sweet spot for me. A mix of surf like guitar and lo-fi production, reminiscent in tone to the earliest Vivian Girls or Thee Oh Sees recordings. The album is filled with handclaps, and singalongs, and LALALA choruses. The core members, who go by the name Falcon Bitch and Gubmball, are out to have a good time. They even tell you that in their theme song that pops up midway through the album.

It would be a mistake though to let the playfulness of “When Horses Would Run” obscure the depth that exists on this record.  What elevates Being Dead from just a novelty is the maturity that the band brings cultivating their playful sound. The instrumentation has layers that offer genuine surprises when you're paying attention.  Listen to the jazzy start-stop piano breakdown in the back half of “Muriel’s Big Day Off.”  Or the complex harmonies they layer in on “Daydream.”  That song serves as the wistful heart of the record, and is a genuinely sweet track dealing with friendship.

I think the thing that captivates me the most with Being Dead is how they win you over with both their authenticity but also their earnestness. That combination evokes a familiarity, like you can see your friends being in this band, and being excited to go seem them after work one night. Like your best friends, Being Dead want’s you to have a good time, and they’ve made an album filled with fun, heart, and musical ingenuity that almost guarantees that you will.

Favorite Track:  When the chorus harmonies kick in on “Last Living Buffalo,” I start grinning ear-to-ear. Every damn time.