Swan Lake

Beast Moans

[5/5] Eat your heart out, Audioslave and (+44): You ain’t got nothing on the newest supergroup on the block, Swan Lake-comprised of indie-rock luminaries Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown), Daniel Bejar (Destroyer, the New Pornographers) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes). Their debut LP, Beast Moans, is aptly titled-with the saucy wit (and song-naming sensibility) of Colin Meloy and more outboard effects then an Aphex Twins record, the trio careen through 13 rhapsodical tracks of delay-drenched, ramshackle David Byrne-meets-Black Francis (see “Nubile Days”) love-rock. It seems that when you mix superstar indie-ites, everything is increased exponentially. Who knows how many tracks are used on some of these songs, but the sheer volume of backups and the shimmering sheet of background noise-melody is ever present. (JAGJAGUWAR) Casey Lynch