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Oct 16, 2024 Web Exclusive By Scotty Dransfield

Being Dead is more alive than most of the music industry. The Austin group’s new album, EELS, is a strange and delightful dive into their increasingly layered sonic world of psychedelic campfire indie rock.

The album’s production is crisp, yet retains a charmingly raw edge that complements the band’s eclectic style. The balance between earnest storytelling and playful eccentricity is where EELS truly shines, particularly on tracks like “Rock n’ Roll Hurts” and the dreamy “Dragons II,” which perfectly captures the ennui many of us feel when the world cannot give us our own fairytale stories to take part in. Being Dead sound like their very purpose is to push back against modern tedium.

Standout tracks like “Firefighters” and “Nightvision” showcase the band’s ability to fling multiple memorable hooks into two minutes of song. As a whole, EELS may not reach the energetic frenzy of last year’s When Horses Would Run, but it more than makes up for it in the sheer breadth of shade and color Being Dead infuses into its 44-minute runtime. (www.beingdead.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 8/10