Bruiser & Bicycle - Holy Red Wagon [CD]

Holy Red Wagon is a world to get lost in. Across nine elastic tracks, meticulously channeled freak-folk influence twists its way into Bruiser and Bicycle’s progressive rock-skewed artpop.

Replete with rich imagery and burning affirmations for life, the Albany, NY group’s exploratory writing takes the form of grandiose song structures, call-and-response passages, and confrontations with the unfamiliar. Lead single “1000 Engines”, an explosive and frenetic introduction to Holy Red Wagon, lurches between genre spectrums on a dime, coalescing somewhere between jangle rock and experimental pop.

Flashes of psychedelia find home on Holy Red Wagon too, as heard in the various synths and atmospherics in the frenzied second single “Superdealer”, the first song written for the album. One of the shorter works on the record, the song about desire features an unforgettable, extended bridge that captures the pop aptitude of Bruiser and Bicycle, as well as the spirit of Holy Red Wagon itself.

While the chaos that jumps out from Holy Red Wagon seems at first listen to be its salient feature, it’s the contrasts and juxtapositions of style and sound that are its beating heart—ostensible chaos revealing more and more of its order with each successive listen.