American psych pop band The Garment District rotates around the cousins Jennifer Baron (The Ladybug Transistor) and Lucy Blehar who set out to record a set of sprawling songs that are allowed to grow slowly. On the new album Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World Baron uses everything she has learned as a songwriter, putting a distorted guitar way up front of dig into her impressive collection of vintage keyboards and synths to create textures that are dreamy, but not sweet. Case in point: the subtle instrumental Seldom Search Arch wherein the lead motif takes its time to reach an almost upbeat middle-eight before going back to a slightly harsher repetition of the first part.
Two-part harmonies keep it all together for a journey into a parallel universe where the late 60s and early 70s never really ended in tracks like Left On Coast and The Starfish Song. The Garment District are stitching bits and pieces together to create patterns that sound familiar, but aren't. There is always something extra going on and following them into a maze (Moon Pale and Moon Gold) or enjoy a bit of danceable avant-garde where Jumble Hole Clough's Colin Robinson meets Bach (Moon Pale and Moon Gold) is the best way to fully appreciate their handiwork. They either sound like no one else, or a whole bunch of other acts thrown in together. The title of the album's closing track, The Instrument That Plays Itself, sums up their modus operandi pretty accurately.
