Cigarette Tricks: What to Download Tuesday: Tanlines

Tanlines are Eric Emm (guitar, vocals) and Jesse Cohen (drums, music). The band formed in Brooklyn in 2008, following the demise of Cohen's band, Professor Murder. Since then, the pair have released an EP, a compilation of new songs and compiled singles, Volume On, and they've worked on numerous remixes for groups such as Telepathe, Au Revoir Simone, and The Tough Alliance. And they opened some dates in 2009 for Julian Casablancas. Despite this high profile and their fairly prolific output, it seemed the band's official full-length debut would never come. First slated for release in 2010, the project saw its share of mishaps and delays -- the most significant of which was Emm and Cohen getting evicted from the building they had set their recording studio up in. However, without further ado, Mixed Emotions is out today -- and, thankfully, it is the record we've been waiting for. With songs structured around house drum beats, and adorned with flourishes of hand claps, bright synthesizers and fuzzy bass lines, Mixed Emotions is pure summertime electro-pop. Musically, the album's influences seem to run the gamut from contemporary electronic bands like The Presets and Cut Copy to Afropop Paul Simon and the Miami Sound Machine. But even when dabbling in brighter, tropical sounds, Mixed Emotions remains a thoroughly moody, mid-tempo affair. While the album's peppiest songs, "All of Me" and "Green Grass," could feasibly get folks moving on the dance floor, the rest of the album is a more patient style of dance-pop. Lyrically the songs dwell on sophisticated questions of growing up and identity in a way that recalls artists like Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M. The affecting and anthemic "Not the Same" slowly builds from a pulsating and urgent piano/keyboard riff, while the lyrics in the chorus repeatedly address a melancholic disillusionment with growing older, "tell everyone we haven't changed/tell everyone we're not the same." A similar melancholy towards identity and age haunts opener "Brothers" as well, with Emm singing "I'm just the same as I ever been/but I'm the only one who hasn't noticed it." Throughout, the songs on Mixed Emotions remain fixated on questions of, well, mixed emotions, addressing feelings of nostalgia, confusion, indecision, and failure but doing do so in neon rhythms and radiant melodies that make this something more than a mopey or melancholic affair. At its heart, Mixed Emotions is a collection of finely crafted pop tunes that seems perfect for that long, bittersweet ride home from the beach this summer.

In addition to the Tanlines record, it is a good week for new releases. The slightly retooled lineup of The Shins are dropping Port of Morrow. The Antone Newcombe approved psych-rockers Magic Castles are releasing their self-titled debut. We have the physical release of a record that was out on mp3 last week, and which I haven't stopped listening to since then, Gentleman Jesse with his early-Elvis Costello conjuring Leaving Atlanta. There's also beautiful new solo EPs from Daniel Rossen and Ben Browning (of Grizzly Bear and Cut Copy respectively). And, similarly, two indie vets also associated with larger acts have solo efforts out today. Robert Pollard's Mouseman Cloud and Lee Ranaldo's Between the Time and Tides, arguably the most accomplished solo outing to-date from the Sonic Youth axeman. Full list after the jump.

Tanlines, Mixed Emotions