The Brooklyn kindie-rock artists Rolie Polie Guacamole are now 12 albums deep into their upbeat and positive songwriting, where the founding members, Frank Gallo and Andrew Tuzhilin (who are also in the odd rock and punk band Karabas Barabas), welcome plenty of friends for these 10 family oriented tracks.
“Yum Yum Yum I Love A Tasty Dinner” leads with buzzing guitars and Rossen Nedelchev’s thumping drums for some garage rock fun, and “Little Miss Moon” follows with a playful jangle that’s harmonic and retro-spirited in a ’60s sort of way and puts Isabel Hagen’s viola to use.
Moving on, the soft and mysterious “Library Ghost” emits spoken word and strings from Will Ren via a haunting mood, but it’s the soft-rock and breezy folk of “Out In The Rain,” which employs ambient noises and Gallo’s frisky synth, that really makes an impression. The scrappy and sing-along friendly title track will then get your body moving to the infectious energy, where Marriane Tasick contributes animated vocals.
Landing close the end, the rugged and percussively fun “Ghost Car” brings gritty singing to summery instrumentation, while “Traffic” is a busy tune with trombone from Dean Jones that aligns with the many traffic fueled background noises. “Brahms’ Stoker’s Lullaby” exits, and it’s indeed a quiet moment, where Jane Scarpantoni’s cello is used strategically and suits Gallo’s smooth pipes.
Now just about two decades into their existence, Rolie Polie Guacamole are constantly evolving in the kindie-rock realm, and the well-timed strings present only add to their diversity.
Interestingly enough, Gallo is also running for mayor of New York City, though I don’t think his campaign will revolve much around topic like ghosts, fishing, moongazing, playing in the rain or pickle ball.
