The Growlers Take Step toward Wider Indie Acceptance with 'Chinese Fountain'

Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the new record that finished closest to the back of the Billboard 200 for the previous week. We hope to give a fighting chance to the bands you haven't heard of.

Week of 10/02/2014
WHO: The Growlers
WHAT: Chinese Fountain
SPOT: 173

Last year served as last ditch effort by The Growlers to flush out the poison from its deepest indie insides. We don't mean "poison" in the sense that it wasn't quality material-we mean poison in that the band has long reveled in its self-anointed "beach goth" sound and "poison" just happens to be a noun that correlates with the style. The band dropped one full-length and two EPs during 2013 before dropping Chinese Fountain this year, a disc that still jives with the indie scene even if it cuts back from The Growlers signature sound a tad.

God only knows (joke) that the band still wants to sound like its playing at the beach in nearby Los Angeles, preferably at night. The mood remains dark, although in a more cynical Randy Newman sense, hidden behind an upbeat facade. The trouble now is that it seems The Growlers are looking to not only sell singles but have them catch on, or at least that's what we take from the more polished product on Chinese Fountain. Perhaps the title track is the best example of this, when the band diverts from its typical psychedelic pop approach to a more Chic disco guitar/synth groove.

If—and we're making assumptions here—The Growlers want to get bigger, it needs to channel its still-dark lyrics into listener-friendly hooks. It's far from impossible. Johnny Cash almost made a career out of it. Chinese Fountain is a step in a good direction and now The Growlers need to take a second step.