Review
Brown Brogues
Triflin'

The phrase "hanging out" can mean different things for different people. Some may use it to describe a night-in or a low-key stop at the neighborhood bar. Others may use it to describe their weekend-long, mind-melting bender adventure. In this instance, the phrase "big time hanging out" may be used. Really, though, it's all about attitude and believing in the task at hand. With Triflin', Brown Brogues are hanging out big time.

This is the second release for Brown Brogues, who released their first album Born to Lose last year. What jumps out right away with Triflin' is how tight and dense it is and how seemingly not one second was wasted while recording. Packing way more of a wallop than its 29 minutes of reel-to-reel tape suggests, Triflin' weaves its way through proto garage sounds, dashes of psychedalia, and even finds time to coo at potential lovers. 

There's a lot to like about Triflin' from the early Wavves feel of opening track "Beach Ghost Face Killah" to the garage stomp of "Split Disc" to the ramshackle sentiments expressed on "Shake It". The affective falsetto harmonies applied courtesy of drummer Ben Mather on "Shake It" really makes for an appealing track. "I Kill" has a groovy handclap part that is undeniably catchy while "Cryin" supplies enough shitkicker guitar to keep things going. 

On tracks like "A G From the Cradle" and "Loving Mouthful of Choke", there's more of a slow-burning sludge mentality that recalls more of the band's earlier noise tendencies. There's a lot to enjoy on the album, but kind of paradoxically the album begins to work against itself over repeated listens. As a listener, you begin to wish that there were more to unpack.

"Gimmie A Reason" pogos on a one-two and is far too short at only 1:38. The resonation and reverb on display there suggests that the band could do some really cool drone stuff if given the space. "Gimme A Reason" is a fun track on first listen, but eventually one begins to realize that the band could really take it into a really cool direction. There's space to jam there. They just choose not to take it. 

In the last five or six years or so, garage rock has seen a surge in popularity and has blown up in certain pockets of the internet. Seemingly, everywhere you look there would another lo-fi outfit who owns a copy of Nuggets popping up. The explosion certainly isn't a bad thing, especially for those who are keen on curating mixtapes and playlists. It's just at some point, it becomes a lot of acts mining from the reserves. Brown Brogues do enough on Triflin' where it never feels like *just* another garage rock record, but at the same time it's hard to shake the feeling that there could be more.