Brontosaurus, Cold Comes to Claim

Stripped-down indie rock attitude. To ears from around here (New Haven), where Miracle Legion ruled the ‘80s, this mix of laid-back rangy poetic sing/speech and punchy guitars is old hat.

…until the keyboards and percussion come in. That’s fresh. “Beware,” the opening track of this six-song EP sets the ground rules, repeating a riff until it orchestrates up into an ELO area. “Bring in New Blood” opens with a guitar sound out of The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” but it doesn’t stay lonely—there are harmonies and weird throbby background sounds. “Mouths Move” opens with heavy crashing piano then flips to classical guitar and keeps changing up for over eight minutes. Full of surprises then, including some fine lyrics about embracing, accepting, surviving and otherwise getting along.