Discovery is a band that’s been popping up on my radar (The SwoleDar™) for quite a while now. And I’ve ignored them for 356 days—I was afraid that I would actually like their music. That fear has been both confronted and realized tonight.
Let me explain.
Discovery is made up of Rostam Batmanglij and Wes Miles. Now, those two names might not mean very much to you, but what if I informed you that the Batman is the keyboardist for Vampire Weekend, and Wes the vocalist of Ra Ra Riot? Let me explain some more …Vampire Weekend is one of the most loved/hated “indie” bands out there; adored for their infectious, east-coastish guitar pop, and despised for their music’s monotony, poor production/execution, and preppy aura. I’ve never listened to a Ra Ra Riot record, but I’ve been told that they’re up there with VW in terms of loatheability.
Really, it was inevitable that the guy responsible for the keyboard piece in “Wolcott,” plus the singer of stuff like this, when paired together, would make anything but some extremely catchy summertime jams. I wouldn’t have predicted that they would go in an R&B, almost funky direction, but the dudes make it work surprisingly well.
Replay-wise, I can’t imagine that this album will get any more than two or three additional spins out of me. In the vein of Vampire Weekend, a lot of the tracks sound almost identical, and don’t have nearly enough substance to land on any GOAT lists of mine. Sometimes that’s not what matters, though—sometimes we just need catchy.
Swole Ear 
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