The Autumns are the only band around that can emerge from textured, sometimes chaotic arrangements with such gorgeous melodic results. The Los Angeles outfit’s new album Fake Noise From A Box Of Toys is both a stunning tourbillion of sonic beauty and a virtual clinic of harmonic genius. “The Midnight Knock” sounds like Brian Wilson fronting Sonic Youth; “Boys” asserts that Frankie Koroshec’s idiosyncratic guitars lines will surely propel him to indie rock god status and “Killer In Drag” is a whirlpool of heaving syncopation and vocal invention. Elsewhere, “Only Young” radiates with pop immediacy; “Glass Jaw” is a shimmering stutter-step of a number and “Uncle Slim” starts low-key and somehow transforms into something cataclysmic and lovely. But it’s “The Beautiful Boot” that seals the deal here—replete with swooning female background singers, brushing percussion and stirring vocals from frontman Matthew Kelly, it’s awash in mystery, majesty and mayhem. And like everything this band seems to do, it’s pure magic.
--Alex Green [May 5, 2008]
