Considering its geographic origin and certain obvious influences, the comparisons between Atlanta group Carnivores and scene predecessors Black Lips are inevitable. Like the Lips, this quartet plays lo-fi rock that's more than a little informed by psychedelia and garage.
Still, to peg this outfit as Black Lips Lite would be unfair. While the Lips are unapologetically fuzzed-out, possibly drugged-out (they wrote a song called "Lean," after all), and loud at all times, Carnivores' sound is more tempered. There's less of a balls-to-the-wall punk rock energy and more of an infatuation with mid-'60s British Invasion acts.
A song like "Georgia Power Company" could surely be the soundtrack to an acid test. But others, such as the organ-driven "Dressed for the Rain," are close to dance-floor jams for the Quadrophenia crowd, while some of the best cuts feature classically trained keyboardist Caitlin Lang's vocals, such as "Salts to Mine," a song that charms with seriously bittersweet girl-group wistfulness.
