Museum Mouth – Sexy But Not Happy

North Carolina noise pop trio Museum Mouth may have undergone a lineup change with the loss of female vocalist and bassist Savannah Levin, but it has done little to effect their style and direction.  While I recall commenting on how Levin’s contributions added to my appeal, her departure proves that I may have been selling the remainder of the band short.  Fact is, their sophomore full length, Sexy But Not Happy, continues to break my aversion to the noise genre, and leaves me even more satisfied than with their previous pursuits.

“Goodbye, Evan” opens the disc with just over a minute worth of cheeky, fuzzed out pop-bliss that should find an easy audience with those hooked on noise headliners Wavves.  Always sure to keep their songs under or around the two-minute mark, Museum Mouth keeps each song brief and to the point, never picking more than a single catchy guitar line to ground each track.  The title track serves as a perfect case and point with it’s quick tempo, simplistic riffs, and relatively big, repetitive chorus.  They’re the type of songs that grow on you over the course each chorus and verse.  “Blood Mountain” and “Blood Mountain” benefit from similar tactics and had me tapping along in no time.

This outing also feels tighter, with Museum Mouth altering tempo and direction more readily but with greater continuity.  Songs like “For Mom” and “Certain Doom” spell out greater lyrical precision (thanks to vocalist Karl Kuehn) with focal phrases like “I’m mentally single” giving listeners clear points to latch onto while scaling back their speed for more pensive passages.

With Sexy But Not Happy Museum Mouth cement their relevance in the noise genre with their most focused and deserving work to date.  I suspect the best still remains to come, but as far as sophomore efforts go, this one is a textbook improvement for setting up a successful career and a discography to be proud of.