Listening to Gardens & Villa, a band from Southern California (Santa Barbara to be precise), it’s hard not compare them to other successful indie-rock/psych-folk outfits such as Local Natives, who also hail from Southern California. That isn’t to say that they made bad/derivative music—in fact—it’s quite the opposite; they make damned fine music.
“Black Hills” is an excellent example of this. Starting out with a minute long medley of synthesizers and instruments that are vaguely reminiscent of a more lightly arranged LCD Soundsystem song, it escalates into a soaring lead vocal and some absolutely delightful harmonies.
Gardens & Villa, the group’s self-titled debut album is available now via Secretly Canadian.
’Black Hills’
