It's Not Easy Being Green
The Essex Green has fit most of the indie grouping it's been associated with during its seven-year recording history. Initially lumped in with the mostly Athens, Ga.-based Elephant 6 psych-pop collective that adopted them as long distance brethren, they blended in with heavy employment of Rhodes, layered vocals, a little bit of pan flute and a genteel aloofness. Since moving to Merge Records, they've mixed with gauzy textures similar to Camera Obscura, arrangements as full as any Arcade Fire mini-epic, a jangly pop enthusiasm shared by the Rosebuds and simple, yet undeniable melodic hooks that are a hallmark of Spoon.
One assemblage where the Essex Green is a definite odd man out is among other Brooklyn bands. True, when they put out their debut Everything is Green, their label, then Brooklyn-based Kindercore sported Athens connections to similar-minded labelmates Of Montreal, the Mendoza Line and Masters of the Hemphishere. But most of the borough's bands were borrowing from '80s new wave and the Cure's goth-tinged post-punk. Meanwhile, The Essex Green, led by the trio of Sasha Bell, Chris Ziter and Jeff Baron, were all about the '60s, taking cues from the Zombies, the Byrds and the Mamas and the Papas.
Their two Merge releases, 2003's The Long Goodbye and their latest, Cannibal Sea, have seen them eschew the hazy psychedelia of early releases and move in on the perfect pop movement helmed by the Shins and the New Pornographers. Take "Don't Know Why (You Stay)," the new records' second track, which effuses jumpy, muted guitar strums, feathered harmonies as well as a beautiful, spiraling refrain of ahhs. Cannibal Sea's other highlights include the bass-anchored jaunt "Cardinal Points," the understated yet immediate "Uniform" and the alt-country inflected "Sin City," all of which careen gently on the angelic, but forthright voice of Bell.
You'd think that while everyone else in Brooklyn lived in abandoned warehouses, The Essex Green lived in the Botanical Gardens.