There’s a secret weapon hiding down here in Southern California (Costa Mesa to be precise). What is this secret weapon ready to dig into your ears like the fat kid in Matilda does to the chocolate cake? The New Limb.
I caught The New Limb when they opened for Miniature Tigers and Freelance Whales a couple weeks back, and they stole the show. And that’s big because the Tigers and Whales both put on great and energetic performances that night.
The New Limb come from, and add to, a lineage of raw and playful indie bands with great mixture of male/female vocals (Rilo Kiley, Belle & Sebastian, The Anniversary and Mates of State come to mind). However, to describe their sound as a rehash would be doing a huge disservice to the interesting things The New Limb do throughout their album, Sounds People Can Hear. The dueling vocals are pitch-perfect, there’s hip-shaking keyboard/organ melodies and some seriously catchy lyrics (my absolute favorite is, “You’re a half-thought through tattoo”). The New Limb put together really fun and infectious songs.
One of the definite highlights on the album the captivating mash-up/cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” with Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”. I won’t say much more (since you can listen to it here), but it’s one of the more remarkable and ambitious efforts I’ve heard in awhile. The other standout track on the album is the tune “Birds and Stuff”. With some clever, catchy wordplay, playful melodies and high production value, “Birds and Stuff” is destined to take The New Limb to new heights.
Check out “Birds and Stuff” and “Bizarre Love Triangle/Time After Time” below, and support The New Limb by previewing and then picking up their album Sounds People Can Hear here.
The New Limb – Birds and Stuff
The New Limb – Bizarre Love Triangle/Time After Time
