Growing - PUMPS!

For most of its life, Growing has been Joe Denardo and Kevin Doria — two guys with loud amps and a pile of looper and fuzz pedals blasting blissed-out pysch drones to infinity. Across a myriad of impressive recordings, the Brooklyn pair has covered a wide pallet of sounds ranging from the metal-influenced drone worship of The Sky Returns Into the Sea to the psych-glitch mantras of Color Wheel and All the Way. Implementing ambient, drone-based slabs of guitar, fogged landscapes, and as of late, rhythmic, beat-laden jams, the group has steadily morphed their sound without alienating their core base. With the addition of samplist Sadie Laska, Growing has again upped the bar on their latest effort PUMPS! by adding a multitude of new layers to its thickly woven sonic blanket. Manipulated vocals, programmed beats, and other non-guitar effects are present and pushing the three-piece closer to the likes of Black Dice and Fuck Buttons with the album oscillating from active listen to total zone-out without ever tiring. Songs such as “Massive Dropout” and “Camera 84” plod along playfully like a jazzercise workout tape set to glitch overload, while “Highlight” and “Mind Eraser” unfurl in a more Kraftwerk-ish semblance. The album’s eight songs are unassuming and carefree and can be interpreted however the listener feels it needs to be at that moment. This has always been true of most of Growing’s work, but PUMPS! takes that notion to a higher plane.