Marmoset: Florist Fired

With Florist Fired, their first album since 2002, Marmoset has created an album of Velvet Underground-inspired pop dirges for the ADD set. Florist Fired gets off to an uninspired start (the first two songs are buried under so much fuzz that it’s hard to tell what, if anything, is going on underneath), but by the middle of the album the air clears and Marmoset gives us a few nuggets of dreamy, distilled noise-pop. It’s a testament to the strength of Dave Jablonski and Jorma Whittaker’s songwriter that no song seems disjointed or incomplete: each one is a fully realized entity, simple and direct. “Apples” is an obvious highlight, with innocently chiming vibes ringing over the line “Apples are the things I give to you”, and a sinister cello making the whole song seem a lot less harmless (and more interesting) than it would coming from another band. There are some duds here, for sure. “Eat Me Out” is the kind of song only a horny 15-year-old goth kid with stringy hair and a crush on Robert Smith could enjoy. Luckily, with all 16 tracks clocking in under 35 minutes, you won’t have to wait long for the next song.