Mood Rings

POPSESH PICK O' THE WEEK: MOOD RINGS
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MOOD RINGS, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Jamie Thompson :: special to popmontreal.com

We’re pretty much nerds here, I’ll just say it. We’re music nerds, fun nerds who party, nerds who are comfortable in their own skin, but nerds all the same. We all have a solid understanding that we are to put our nerdom aside while at the sessions and try to pick bands that non-nerds will like too. It’s just so hard when a band comes on that sounds straight off of a limited issue compilation of hard to find underground pop tracks from the 60’s. How can you not nerd-out on that so hard?

MOOD RINGS is a properly '60s name for this dark, slightly psychedelic pop band out of Atlanta. They’re probably nerds too. Nerds who dress well and make friends easily, nerds who have really sick record collections, but nerds all the same. They have nerded out on classic recording techniques and studied pop music so hard that they’ve produced a brand new record that sounds like a secret society undertook the task of saving the old musical wisdom decades ago and has been developing it outside the gaze of the popular culture ever since.

Maybe the culture is ready for this stuff again. The nerds are eating it up for sure. Maybe after the culture is done with ironic detachment and its love of watching colossal public breakdowns it will come back and ask the nerds what’s going on these days. You know, the nerds, the ones who really love this shit.

Jamie Thompson - POP Montreal

The endless river of kick-ass music coming out of Atlanta these days keeps on a ‘rollin with Mood Rings, a dreamy psyche-pop group with a 7” Promise Me Eternity that sounds like it could be a long lost gem from The Association, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds or even Spanky and Our Gang. William Fussell, Tymb Gratz, Christopher Alley and Peter Cauthorn have clearly been geeking out on scrumptious, trippy pop records from the past whose emphasis centered around lazy-day, wistful yearnings and it shows. Their abundance of jangly guitars, vaporous vocals and meandering melodies would seemingly fall under a sunshine-pop category if it weren’t for a barely-there, dark and sexy underbelly that moves this atmospheric sound into the new millennium. It’s both sweetly pensive and hauntingly ethereal all at once; a heart-tugging combo if there ever was one. This 7” follow-up on the tails of their incredible debut EP Sweater Weather Forever on Double Phantom Records definitely promises of more good things to come from this Atlanta foursome.

You can catch Mood Rings currently on tour with labelmates Carnivores.

MP3 : Mood Rings – Promise Me Eternity

Previous:

MP3 : Mood Rings – Exorcized Painting

-Post by Miss Dolly Mod

Mood Rings on Tour…
9/15 – The Velvet Lounge – Washington, DC *
9/16 – Dream Oven – Philadelphia, PA *
9/17 – The Dead Herring – Brooklyn, NY *
9/18 – Great Scott – Boston, MA *
9/19 – The Monkey House – Winooski, VT *
9/22 – Pop Montreal @ Royal Phoenix – Montreal, QC
9/25 – The Garage – Toronto, ONT *
9/27 – Zen Tapes Presents – Ann Arbor, MI *
9/29 – The Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI *
9/30 – The Ball Hall – Chicago, IL *
10/7 – The Electric Owl – Vancouver, BC - My Old Kentucky Blog

After just a few listens to Mood Rings’ “Promise Me Eternity” b/w “Exorcized Painting” 7-inch, it's plain to see that both songs saddle up with the same dreamy drift that defined the group's sound upon releasing the Sweater Weather Forever EP back in January. Growth has taken place but mostly on a meta level that reveals more with each successive spin, allowing atmosphere and damaged pop aesthetics to unfold with an unhurried pace.

Although it’s generally a charming song, “Promise Me Eternity” falls on the breezy side, which is fine, and not really out of character for Mood Rings. But it lacks the murky and alluring bottom-end that marked the group’s intro, and illuminated much of the mystery that lined the hiss and negative spaces in Sweater Weather.... That said, this new single moves at the speed of clouds floating in the summer sky, and is quite easy on the psyche. Just as one ear latches onto the jangling strum of the guitar and drums that fly by like a sonic boom, the other ear gets lost in the lazy day melodies that consume the song with mesmerized and romantic pop motions.

On the flipside, “Exorcised Painting” comes to an end almost as quickly as it springs to life at only 1:32. Of the two songs here the b-side is far and away the more energetic number — short sweet and tailor-made for repeat needle drops. When placed side-by-side, both songs give an intriguing look at a band that’s becoming increasingly comfortable with its recorded self, and hinting at what may be lying in wait with the wealth of songs that Mood Rings has been sharpening on stages all year long. - Creative Loafing (Atlanta)

One of my favorite new bands of 2011 is Atlanta’s Mood Rings. Their debut EP Sweater Weather Forever landed in February and I became so obsessed with those four songs that I wrote a track-by-track “Hypeworthy” review which is something we rarely rarely do on IGIF. So needless to say it’s a treat to hear new material; “Promise Me Eternity” is one of two songs on an upcoming 7? via Double Phantom.

Upon first listen I was a bit disappointed by this song, thinking the lazy guitar strumming and hazy vocals sounded a bit too much like Girls covering Washed Out’s latest album (which I honestly loathe)… but those naïve proclivities gave way to true appreciation as the song unfolded, layer by layer. While I prefer the more gut-punching songs on Sweater Weather Forever like “Indian Hills”, there’s something stunning about the latter two-thirds of “Promise Me Eternity”. Vocals drenched in syrup, lead guitar swaying like a 1950s slow dance, all flowing together as thickly and sweetly as the last few drops of a milkshake through a straw. “Promise Me Eternity” is pure candy-coated love, the kind that only exists in songs like this.

The new 7? is available now at Double Phantom’s online shop. - I GUESS I'M FLOATING

It’s hard coming up with words to describe Mood Rings‘ “Promise Me Eternity” not synonymous with wistful. They exist, and it’s best to bypass the cliché, but there’s something super ‘vague or regretful longing’ built deep into the chord progression. Or embedded in the flanged jangle of the intro guitars, the way the drums bound in like old friends alongside the bass or the way a minute in reverb melts everything nonessential away—a core posture to the song that, even if you sort of squint your ears and ignore the words, evokes precisely the feeling of stomaching your fears and promising someone eternity, or at least sweating the basement couch and mulling the idea over. A new Mood Rings’ 7-inch comes out on Double Phantom September 13th.

Read more: http://www.thefader.com/2011/09/07/mood-rings-promise-me-eternity-mp3/#ixzz1bZ9h8FSZ
- The Fader

Bandcamp-speurtochten zijn vaak vruchteloze ondernemingen. Pagina’s vol met onogelijk artwork en vaak slechte tot matige muziek. Ik reageerde gisteravond dan ook zeer verheugd, toen ik stuitte op Mood Rings uit Atlanta. Ze maken lo-fi dream pop waarin de geest van Deerhunter doorschemert, meen ik. Label Double Phantom biedt de EP Sweater Weather Forever gratis aan via bandcamp. Check hun account voor meer gratis muziek. - You Know You Owe Me (Netherlands Blog)

After our Best of 2010 album list was completed, we had every intention of highlighting our favorite EPs from last year as well. With Dave having a new addition to his family on the first of the year, however, we never got around to putting that list together. I can assure you that such a list would have included the likes of Sufjan Stevens, We Are Trees, Girls, Guards and Geographer.

The only reason I bring that ill-fated list up is because Mood Rings will certainly be on a Best of 2011 EPs of ours when the year draws to a close. Released through the folks at Double Phantom, their four-song Sweater Weather Forever is a perfect introduction to the band. It’s a hazy, melodic set, and it’s one you can get for free in its entirety right now through the Double Phantom website. You should take advantage of that. And if they decide to release it on vinyl, you can bet that I will take advantage of that as well. Listening to it turns my mood ring red. - Tympanogram

Den gemytligt lagda rubriken ovan är inte bara en väderlek vi vintertrötta verkligen vill ha så snart som möjligt, utan också något man faktiskt kan få med en gång. Atlanta-bandet Mood Rings har nämligen släppt en EP titulerad just Sweater weather forever genom Double Phantoms digitala avdelning, och jag blir allt lite varmare – åtminstone inombords – när jag hör deras sköna fuzz-pop skvalpa fram i takt med de somriga gitarr-riffen. Ladda ner alla fyra spår gratis på Bandcamp eller mediafire (d/l) - No Modest Bear (Dutch Blog)

There can be fewer things more meaningless than a ‘like’ on Facebook, a tool devised for people to show their love of forgotten 80’s daytime television programmes, flavours of jelly and in-jokes all with the click of a button. Mood Rings are a band who have had 52 people click to say that they ‘like’ their debut EP, 'Sweater Weather Forever', but their music is worth a lot more than another ridiculous feature on somebody’s social media news feed.

The sonic aesthetic is one stolen from shoegaze, the layered melodies channelled through a stoic, old amp with a hint of an old rock and roll time signature thrown in for good measure. It’s hardly something that you’ve not heard before - all breezy delivery, distant vocals and a string hint that it might’ve all been thrown together in a bedroom after someone had just played a bit of the Beach House record, but it certainly hits the spot. Towards the end of the four tracks, it even manages to hint upon the kind of grunge that has seen Yuck make a serviceable career out of things, before snapping back to being a kind of preppy My Bloody Valentine-lite, something that serves them a lot better.

It’s not only a handful of people on FaceBook who’ve beaten you to the reverb heavy punch - the people at doublephantom.com were at the front of the queue, with Pink House Tapes doing the honourable thing and giving people with a Walkman something to listen to on their jogs or whatever they do. Given the backwards nature of hipster culture, they’re probably the same people who’ve been doing the ‘like’-ing, too. - This is Fake DIY (UK Blog)

The evening brought with it the wind and the chilling cold. The two of us sat huddled beneath a large flannel blanket with our hands clasped together. I could feel your Kashmir brushing against the skin of my neck which was almost as soft as your warm flesh. We both stared at the fire as it spread its red, orange, and yellows. Loving each both each other and the random art of nature we stayed in our embrace until the sun finally started to rise. I hoped that we would both remember this sweater weather forever.

Double Phantom Records recently released and new digital four track EP from Atlanta’s Mood Rings titled Sweater Weather Forever and while the title sounds cold this band creates a warm sound that will soothe you throughout the final days of winter. With slight hints of the south and mild calming psychedelic vocals spread syrupy sweet through the four tracks they have crafted what may very well end up being one of the finest debut EPs to hit the internet airwaves this early in the year. Much like Guards and their surprising out of nowhere debut EP I was hooked on this immediately and wondered how I hadn’t heard anything about these guys previously. Head over to the Double Phantom Records Bandcamp and get a copy of this as soon as possible or believe me you will regret when your best friend gets to it first. - Good Pop, Bad Pop (Blog)

The entire Sweater Weather Forever EP is like wrapping yr head up in one of those infinity scarves, but one made of echoes and reverb. Gorgeous work. If these guys don’t go on tour with Bradford Cox soon, there’s no brotherhood left among Georgians. He’s so clearly their sonic big brother. - YVYNYL(Blog)

Sometime between now and last night, four moongazers lined up in a row at Double Phantom’s bandcamp (two below). Based on how quickly I’ve taken to their notions of noise, it seems our sun may stay down for a while. - Stadiums and Shrines (Blog)

Shimmering guitars drenched in reverb-heavy vocals. Like Christopher Owens if he teamed up with The Strange Boys.

We are number 79 - Paste Magazine

Double Phantom Digital’s first release of 2011 arrives with Mood Rings’ four-song Sweater Weather Forever EP. Produced by Phil Jones (Dog Bite, Washed Out), the group orchestrates a short set of quietly twisted melodies that swim in echo and nostalgia.

There’s a sense of elegance behind every slow and tasteful arrangement throughout Sweater Weather Forever, and everything comes wrapped in pleasing textures that reveal themselves in “Year of Dreams,” setting the stage for a starry-eyed ambiance. Rhythmic complexities appear deceptively simple as the tones sink deeper in “Indian Hills.” The grainy but full-bodied sound of the recording carries as much of its dreamlike pace as singer and guitarist William Fussell’s glowing voice. At times he even hits falsetto notes that create the illusion of Beach Boys-style harmonies in “Yellow Teeth.” But there is only one voice at work here, and it harmonizes with the music’s reverberating shadows. These glassy, summertime intonations move in long strains of rhythm and ‘60s pop, all flowing at the whims of invisible currents. “Washer” follows suit as it rides a gentle descent into strung-out captivation.

As a whole, the EP thrives on this kind of narcotic power by rallying the senses and teasing the brains receptors, but at only four songs it's a frustrating quick fix. By offering just a taste of what the group is capable of churning out, Sweater Weather Forever’s perfection solidifies Mood Rings’ place in the world with a sound that is soft, ethereal and totally mesmerizing. It sets a high standard for Mood Rings, and creates even higher expectation for what happens next. - Creative Loafing