Llama Llodge – Ins & Outs

Llama Llodge – Ins & Outs – EP Review

Damn you Llama Llodge.

Here I am, minding my own business, trying to live my life as I normally would – and then you come along with your bloody hybrid tunes, forcing me to confront parts of myself that I much rather choose to ignore.  Like, as I was listening to “The Store Is Closed” at the start of the new EP for example…my very first thoughts were all positive…aside from the weird twelve seconds of silence at the start of the copy of the file I’ve got…but I was like, cool…charming, pleasant…this is nice to listen to.  And then I was like, hey wait a minute – this song could like…be in a freakin’ MUSICAL.  And then I felt the fool, because clearly I had been duped by such pleasantry as to betray my natural defenses against all-things-musical, musical-related, and/or even musical-adjacent.  And then I felt like I was left with only two options.  I could slug the rest down and continue to listen – or I could smash my computer to bits, burn down the house, get a fake passport, and leave the country never to be seen again, in an effort to keep what tiny shreds of my street cred were left, intact.  And then I was like, actually, listening to a track like “The Store Is Closed” is a lot like what it’s like to listen to music by The Beards, only minus all the beards that pop up in The Beards music.  So I calmed down (a little) and started to enjoy listening to the song again without feeling so much guilt at the same time.  Llama Llodge…you tricksters…you swindlers…I still love you, and I can forgive you for this musical-adjacent sound you’re rocking with at the start of “The Store Is Closed.”  Let’s be real here…it would be way stranger for this band to continue rocking in the gear that they started in anyhow – if I’ve learned anything by listening to their music in the past on records like Lock Doubt and Lock Den, it’s that where they’ll end up is always miles away from where they began.  So naturally, “The Store Is Closed” began to morph, contort itself, and become something with way more dimension and depth to it than you might assume from its sweet & charming sound at the start.  You’ll get a dose of killer rock around the 2:45 mark that is awesome…you’ll get a finale that is like…beyond impressive really.  I don’t know how they could have gotten more of that part into the song, but dammit I almost wish they found a way…I probably love the ending of “The Store Is Closed” more-so than the rest of it, which is really saying something.  I might have bristled at the not-a-care-in-the-world, upbeat sound they started out with, but like I originally pointed out in this convoluted roundabout narrative I’m weaving here, I actually DO enjoy it…all of it…even the sunniest side up parts of it…maybe even more than I’m willing to admit in print here.  Love the lyricism from Charles in the verses you’ll find there too, and of course, Evan will go on to wow the fuck out of us all with his guitar work as the song carries on.  But LISTEN to that final switch around the 4:25 mark will ya?  Goddamn that’s cool!  Llama Llodge flexes their flexibility to the nth degree, and gives you like, I dunno, a third or fourth irresistible hook to latch onto before “The Store Is Closed” is all over?  I’ve lost count.  Listen…Llama Llodge is more of a hybrid style of band than most of you are used to, which may or may not result in you liking parts of their songs more than others I suppose, but in cases like “The Store Is Closed,” you really have to marvel at how they can somehow weave all this together into one seamless experience…it’s really quite something.

“Burning Like A Man.”  Not Burning Man.  Careful what you’re typing into your Google machines or you might end up taking a serious detour.  Astounding work being put in here!  Not by me – by them (I think that’s obvious, yes?)!  Honestly, it’s impressive that these guys put out the steady stream of music that they do when you consider all that’s involved with it.  If there’s one thing you can say for sure about Llama Llodge, it’s that they don’t do normal.  They just don’t.  So as to how you come up with multi-layered ideas like what you’ll hear on “The Store Is Closed” or “Burning Like A Man” after having just released their last EP like six or seven months ago…I mean…I’m tellin’ ya folks, these diverse ideas and structures they’re rocking with should take YEARS to formulate, and yet here we are.  It speaks to a whole bunch of shit…things like Evan and Charles having extremely unique musical minds, tremendous talent shared between them, and a unity found in the way they work together that the rest don’t have.  LISTEN to the inspired spark and groove happening at the very beginning of “Burning Like A Man,” will ya?  It’s no wonder Charles didn’t dare to come into this tune too early – the music is already workin’ its magic on us and the first instrumental minute of this song is LOADED with the kind of sound your ears will want to attach you to.  The verses check out…I’m cool with those.  Love the playfulness you’ll find in the music and how it interacts with the vocals directly.  It’s got melodic similarities to something like “Every You, Every Me” by Placebo if you’re listening to the flow of the vocals at times, which is kinda neat because the two songs are basically incomparable, even if you’re picking that up like I did.  And then like, c’mon – listening to that guitar solo LIGHT IT UP as it burst through at the 4:20 mark was nothing short of amazing.  Some extraordinary highlight musicianship to be found in the final minute of this song as well…great vocals, great ideas, quality hooks…”Burning Like A Man” has got it all in there somewhere.  The clarity in what they create is practically perplexing…with as much involved in what they do as there is, you’d think that the accessibility would be buried under the Progressive inclinations like trying to find something in the back of your shed…but somehow, Llama Llodge is defying the odds to create music that keeps you fully engaged from part to part without feeling exhausted from trying to keep up.  For real…music that’s as complex, versatile, and intricately assembled like this can often wear you the fuck right out, but I felt like this duo managed to keep things completely exciting to listen to, so that none of us feel the strain that they no doubt experienced in putting it all together.  “Burning Like A Man” is a riotous amount of fun to listen to, and that guitar solo is magnificent every time it comes back for another round…that’s the spot that feels like the release, the triumph, the victory, all at once – like a cherry on top to celebrate all the hard work they put in along the way…it’s a genuine highlight moment.

Then they go and rub their nuts in our face and tell us that it’s all “Effortless.”  Okay…maybe that’s not the case.  Maybe it’s actually the opposite.  Maybe Charles has made his point by making the opposite point, you know what I mean?  He’s pointing out that things can often SEEM “Effortless” from a distance but “by no means is it effortless” – none of it – he’s not just talkin’ about the art of making music, so much as he’s talking about how ANY of us get through LIFE…at least, so far as I can tell.  Is “Effortless” the deep cut on the Ins & Outs EP?  Sure!  Ironically, it WILL take more effort for most listeners out there to get into “Effortless” than the first two tracks by comparison, but I’m not suggesting anyone’s going to go through some serious pain to get to that plane of existence.  It’s just not going to be “Effortless” is all.  Ultimately, I’d pick this track as the candidate that has the most room to grow on you, and I believe that it will.  There’s always something in Charles’ words that’ll make you think on any given tune, but I think the real magic of “Effortless” gets unlocked when you start to really consider what he has to say here – that’s when it becomes less of being another song, and more of something symbolically important to the lives we’re leading – that make sense?  There ARE hooks, there IS always impressive musicianship…as to whether or not there’s as much to be excited about in that respect by comparison to the others…I think we can probably debate that perhaps…but in terms of real meat on the bone (sorry vegans/vegetarians), I think you’ll find that “Effortless” deals with concepts you can really sink your teeth into when you really take a moment to think about it.  Take a quick look at your social media feeds for a second – look at how we choose to broadcast our lives as being “Effortless,” and yet the dirty little secret we all keep is that we all KNOW that none of our lives are fucking “Effortless” at all!  In any event…I’m not claiming to ever know what the heck Charles is on about for a definitive fact, but like all art that’s put out there into the world, we internalize it, we consider it, and then we project what we think it’s all about no matter how wrong we are, constantly might be.  So yeah…I can acknowledge that some of the previous weight I mentioned we didn’t feel in tracks that were still equally involved like the opening two cuts is felt on the third one here, but I do think “Effortless” might also be the unsung hero in this lineup too when we look back on this EP years later.  I don’t think Llama Llodge is ever going to be accused of writing easy to digest single-style tunes filled with accessibility, but “Effortless” almost makes it seem like “Burning Like A Man” and “The Store Is Closed” are somehow easier tracks to get our heads around by comparison.  I dunno…maybe that’s the case, maybe it isn’t…I felt like I got stuck on this song (willingly, mind you) for longer than I thought I would be, and on any given day as I spun my way through Ins & Outs over this past couple weeks or so, it could fluctuate from being the fourth out of four tunes, to being my favorite track on the record.  I don’t know if I ever came to a definitive conclusion, and I don’t know if that matters.

SOMETIMES WHAT I FEEL LIKE I REALLY WANT FROM LLAMA LLODGE IS FOR THEM TO LISTEN TO THE SHEER AMOUNT OF KICKASSERY THEY CREATE IN A FINALE, GO BACK AND SCRAP THE FIRST COUPLE MINUTES OF THEIR TUNES, AND THEN JUST LIKE, MAKE A SONG THAT IS FILLED WITH THAT FINALE STUFF INSTEAD.  There.  I said it.  And it’s not MY fault that I said it – you’ll know what I mean when you reach the final seconds of the Ins & Outs EP as “Machetes” finishes up.  That’s not me saying there’s nothing worth listening to before that final switch either – there’s plenty – it’s more of a comment on how amazing the very last moments of this song/record truly are, and perhaps a comment on the superb way they tend to finish off their songs in general.  Where is it though…around the…2:45 mark again…what a MAGNIFICENT transition!  Everything from that point truly blew my mind…I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what this band can do with their music in the instrumental sections you’ll find.  Again, not disrespecting what Charles brings to the microphone – he’s an incredible singer that brings a really unique to the front of Llama Llodge that doesn’t do what he does like anyone else does it, and that’s crucial…but yeah…that being said, some of their music-based moments are fucking staggeringly GREAT.  Lyrically, there’s thoughtful social commentary in the mix here for ya…and vocally, you’ll find some really awesome ideas too – like, listen to how the vocals finish up with the impressive harmonies right before that switch to the instrumentation that’ll go on to create the finale for example…love that spot!  I like that “Machetes” kind of has this aggressively creative and colorful gear that brings this song straight to your face with such an unapologetic type of energy, which stresses the urgency in the message buried at the core of this cut if you’re listening closely to it.  Plus, you get these moments of nearly over-the-top performance from Charles, whereby you can’t help but realize the closest comparison you might be able to make to this guy is the legendary Jack Black/Tenacious D…which is like…I mean fuck, that’s amazing.

Evan and Charles have done it again in my opinion…these two dudes just keep on getting better at what they do, and it’s honestly been a pure joy to hear the evolution of their music throughout the years.  They do things differently than the rest, so if that’s what you’re craving (you should be), put some Llama Llodge on your playlists – they’ve got the kind of uniqueness that’ll keep you coming back for more.

Find out what you can about Llama Llodge at their official, all but abandoned Facebook page here:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557052779407

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