With a title like Hell Cat, I expected Kyle Gordon’s most recent EP to be a return to the dirty garage shuffle of his early material. Instead, it was yet another moment of evolution in the ever-maturing development of MammaBear.
Over the past few years, the Gordon has mixed and matched musical genres as if he was piling up a plate at a 24-hour buffet. From the free-wheeling rock and roll of Birds of Paradise to the high-strung Britpop of last year’s Strange Love, the band never stays in the same place for long, a fact further evidenced by the group’s new three-song EP.
On the title track, Gordon pulls from ‘70s rock while avoiding the overwrought trappings of the decade. This isn’t rock star music with ponderous riffs and heavy-handed lyrics; it is effervescent club rock, more akin to Cheap Trick than Aerosmith. The next two songs demonstrate the band’s dedication to sonic exploration even further as Gordon tries out jammy pop with cowboy stylings (“Cruise Control”) and a dreamy slow dance (“Wherever She’s There”).
Gordon’s classic take on broken hearts and the open road is the perfect fit for the pop-hook foundation of MammaBear, but with Hell Cat he goes beyond expectations and exposes a pensive side to his songwriting, cementing himself as one of Atlanta’s most balanced artists.
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