Review: Ought – Sun Coming Down

Ought
Sun Coming Down

Constellation Records
Street: 09.18
Ought = The Velvet Underground + Deerhunter + Perfect Pussy

Tim Darcy’s preening, anxious lyrics are endlessly quotable. Decrying an imagined love, he carries himself along the tensely paranoid line between the surreal and existential. At any given moment, he’s leaning toward the bizarre and then back again to the mundane, only to find himself standing iron-footed in the middle the whole time, simply swaying in the breeze. “It’s a little bit strange,” Darcy breathes out on “The Combo.” And the music is a little bit strange, with the at times droning guitar seeming to percolate Darcy’s thoughts with a chattered picking, and the drum relaying itself in a hazy version of your favorite math rock anthem. It’s intelligent rock n’ roll peering through the eyes of the coolest beta male at that Dada-themed house party you and your friends never got invited to, but you know you wish you had. –Brian Udall