The Constellations
Southern Gothic - Virgin
FILTER Grade: 85%

Toward the end of The Constellations’ debut album, Southern Gothic, there’s a song called “Step Right Up”—a nine-minute tribute to the 1976 Tom Waits ballad of the same name—in which the Atlanta-based band inflects the use of a cowbell. It is subtle and mesmerizing, singular and beguiling. In many ways, the cowbell’s recurring presence in the song symbolizes The Constellations’ theoretical exegesis in today’s musical climate: carnival-esque, neon pop undercut by esoteric add-ons—dizzy disco whirls, beatific wails, magnetic bass, flurried handclaps. Southern Gothic is at once minimalist and maximalist in its thesis, and the band’s lead singer, Elijah Jones, does a fine job of straddling both light and dark subject matter in his arrangement (“Perfect Day,” “Love is a Murder”). But it is the album’s resistance to stasis and its daring boundlessness that set it apart from du jour offerings like Yeasayer’s Odd Blood and MGMT’s Congratulations. At its worst, Gothic growls clichéd psychedelic rock, but toss in a few cowbells and the deep-fried debut is utterly refreshing. JASON PARHAM