Each Other-Taking Trips EP (2012)

Montreal's Each Other, like their clear predecessors Women, defy easy categorization, and it took me a few listens to navigate my way around this, Prison Art's re-release of their debut cassette. My overwhelming impression is that this is the result of weathering savage Montreal winters by creating something as idiosyncratically sunny as possible.

Clanging, ramshackle drums; off-note after off-note; off-kilter, slightly high-pitched vocals; and tinny, discretionary guitar: these are the main ingredients in Each Other's sound. The opening chords of "Looking Lapsed" set you up for some sort of folky misery, but lazy-day-at-the-beach pop is where the EP goes.

"Freak Heat" is the best track on "Taking Trips:" mewled vocals, chimey maraccas [sic?], and a boppy guitar riff yield to crunching sheet metal[?] beats and the result is sorta like the goofy grin and warm feeling you get after dropping a Klonopin or two.

I mentioned Women above, but the main influence I hear is the Unicorns, especially their first album, "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?" The same free-form approach to post-punk is evident all over "Taking Trips," along with the intentionally ramshackle song construction. A lot of this EP is too cutesy for my tastes, but that's a matter of preference. For young lovers everywhere.

Download it here. Buy the real deal HERE.