Kelly Kirwan
Lokomoko shimmers with a retro sheen. The German four-piece seems to have an affinity for those over-the-shoulder glances to what has been, mining yesteryear for feel-good moments in particular. Whence the name "Lokomoko?" The title of a Filipino sketch comedy series that ran in the late 2000s. And that of their latest EP? Named Harold Weir after the father in the wryly funny cult phenomenon, Freaks and Geeks.
As for the music itself, it glistens with psych-pop synths, casting their chords in a golden hue, similar to the one that adorns their album cover. The opening track, "SugarPlum," is a mesh of jangly notes (as if a piano slid slightly out of tune) as fuzzy, unfazed vocals ripple overhead. It’s a song sprinkled with a little discordance, which keeps us from slipping into a hazy, '70s-inspired stupor. Lokomoko keeps us engaged with their experimental subtleties, these psychedelic influences only the swirls on an otherwise unique fingerprint.
"Get Home Drunk" thrives off piquant guitar strums and slides, the vocals falling into a dreamy murmur backed by a light chorus of “oohs"—delicate offsets to the subdued cacophony that grips the song at its height. And still, the song skips along as a smiling beat, a track that feels relaxing even as its lines start to distort.
Lokomoko’s new EP has a kaleidoscope aesthetic, all these eclectic parts turning together in an ever-evolving pattern. It’s the kind of album that would have Harold Weir rustling up suspicions of LSD; and the kind of album we can’t get enough of.