Wild Moccasins
Skin Collision Past
I’ve always been a fan of indie bands that blend male and female vocals: Glass Eye, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and more recently, Film School.
I’ve just discovered a promising new entry to the boy-girl category in Wild Moccasins. This quintet of 20-somethings out of Houston have a great singing team in Cody Swann, the chief songwriter, and his girlfriend, Zahira Gutierrez. The band’s first self-released full-length CD, Skin Collision Past, offers ample examples of their sweet, slightly off-kilter harmonizing. No wonder this is one of the best bands out of Houston without a label.
The band has a real pop sensibility and a love of jangly, droning, buzzing guitars, and layered rhythms. Track four, “Late Night Television,” and track seven, “Calendar,” are prime examples of the bright, bouncy tunes you want to take on a trip to the beach.
“Chapter Four” slows things down a bit, and offers a little more of the atmospherics of a Belle and Sebastian cut with bright guitars over a sweeping organ riff, trading vocal riffs as they sing about the tug and pull of a relationship.
Most of the songs subject matter is about relationships, the boy-girl variety. That’s to be expected by a twee couple in love – just as long as Zahira carries most of the songs. She’s got some amazing vocal chops, and her keening voice suits these little pop gems about the pains and pleasures of being in love.
Wild Moccasins: http://www.facebook.com/wildmoccasins
