Californian indie-poppers The Corner Laughers inhabit a world where bright pop arrangements often obscure darker lyrical narratives. Following in the traditions of bands like Belle & Sebastian and XTC, they mask the ache of their words with a cover of effervescent melodic wanderings. Their music seems to stand outside of the normal flow of time, borrowing bits and pieces from various musical histories to create a gorgeous and wholly affecting rhythmic fluorescence.
Their latest single, “The Calculating Boy,” is full of whirring pop mechanisms, reveling in the fluid melodies concocted by the band while also allowing for some darker thematic rumblings to rise from its depths. Taken from their forthcoming album Temescal Telegraph, the track positions them as mantle bearers of pop’s vast emotional reckoning.
“’The Calculating Boy’ takes inspiration from 17th-century witch hunts, 19th-century mathematical prodigies and 20th-century occultists to form a 21st-century sinister pop song about feeling a bit different,” frontwoman Karla Kane explains, “a bit out of place or time. The sound reflects this: tense rhythms, soaring strings and keys, and slightly haunting, harmonized vocals. It has a lot packed into its short track length and, we hope, proves an intriguing kickoff to the new album.”
The Corner Laughers’ new album Temescal Telegraph is out June 5 via Big Stir Records. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
