Artist: Crocodiles
Title: Endless Flowers
Label: French Kiss 059
Released June 5, 2012

Upon hearing the single, “Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)” I knew the band, Crocodiles, had a deeper consciousness than many of the contemporaries I’ve been sifting through as of late. Lyrics like, “It’s Sunday and the world loves itself for all its faults and its explosions of wealth,” are delivered with sneer and irony but are masked by an irresistible melody and wash of sound.

On the track, “No More Black Clouds,” Charles Rowell sings, “Oh my girl / Yes I wanna / Smile laughing / Coughing sunshine over you / And if you were a daisy / Thirsting for a fix / I’d gladly be the dew.” this is like Smokey Robinson meets Morrissey.

All the tracks on Endless Flowers are written by band mates Charles Rowell and Brandon Welchez. They have the ability to fins beauty in solution, trepidation and apathy, which is perfect for the disenfranchised American and the anxious youth. Plus, they wrote riff so accessible, you’d swear they stole them. Even the onslaught of sound cannot bury them.

One can go on an aural exploration of contemporary music and find bands adapting to genres, transforming themselves into time and place, attempting to recreate an authentic sound. Crocodiles produce music that is in the now. It’s not completely theirs – every artist has influences – but they have morphed them to their personal sound. One can site the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Smiths, the strokes a little 80s synth pop and of course calling themselves Crocodiles, you can’t dismiss Echo and the Bunnymen, but there’s never a ten-second stretch in a song where you can pinpoint one of their influences. This is a great contemporary album that is two steps ahead of the past.