Mozes & the Firstborn - Mozes & the Firstborn (2014)

Some garage rock bands labor hard to make you wonder what decade they exist in. Dutch garage rockers Mozes and the Firstborn are not one of those bands; on their self-titled debut, they sound like they’ve listened to a lot of garage and psych stuff in their time, both old and new, but they clearly live in the year 2013 and they’re perfectly happy about that. Mozes and the Firstborn have a soft spot for the fuzzy guitars of the ’60s, and opening salvo “Bloodsucker” has an intro that would guarantee it a place in the Nuggets box set if it had been recorded in 1966. But there’s as much lo-fi and indie rock lurking in these songs as Paisley Revisionism, and there’s a laid-back charm to this music that has nothing to do with nostalgia and everything to do with the way the group approaches the material. Melle Dielesen’s songs have a personal touch that’s winning, and “I Got Skills,” “Skinny Girl,” and “Down with the Band” are witty without forcing the laughs (and “Skills” remarkably suggests a collaboration between Beck and Weezer that would actually be worth hearing). Producer Michel Schoots, a former member of Urban Dance Squad, turns out to be a surprisingly good choice to put this group’s sound on plastic, giving them a warm, analog treatment that revels in an undertow of hiss and vague sonic disconnect, which suits the mildly stoned attack. In a genre where so many bands are breaking their backs, Mozes and the Firstborn sounds like they’ve kicked back with a beer and a joint before hitting the record button, and while that sure doesn’t work for everyone, on this album it’s just what the doctor ordered.