ARMS & SLEEPERS

Matador

By DANIEL LUCAS

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GENRE | DREAMCORE

VERDICT | SILENT FLUIDITY

RELEASE | 11.17.09

LABEL | FAKE CHAPTER

MYSPACE.COM/ARMSANDSLEEPERS

There's a lot going on in the Boston music scene, from electro shenanigans to disco pop quintets, but Arms & Sleepers has been here (and Portland, Maine) the whole time, quietly making their brand of airy and delirious dream-pop. Matador is their eighth album, which, for a scene where bands have a hard time deciding what key to play in, is a feat that stands alone. Come to think of it, I can't think of one current local band that has even three albums in the books. This tight relationship is proven in songs like "Twentynine Palms," which resists the Radiohead-ripoff tendencies of heady bands and layers chiming xylophones, male and female vocals matching the vibrations of its translucent coda. Similarly, the slowcore of "Helvetica" sounds like another Low-inspired ditty until it also breaks open like a child blowing into a dandelion. Here's to eight more.

GET DOWN WITH THEM WED 10.7.09 AT THE MIDDLE EAST.