You Can't Win, Charlie Brown- Chromatic (2011)

 You Can’t Win, Charlie Brown is a band I randomly think of every couple of years and immediately have to go and listen to their debut. First time I heard it I was hooked since the first minutes of Over The Sun/ Under The Water. I love songs that start out simple and then build on top of it, adding more and more layers of instrumentation, making it gain more and more momentum. The harmonies that kick the track off are stunning but then the synths appear, percussion gets louder, sounds are getting more distorted… It all ends up sounding simply epic. The whole album is a very nice mix of indie rock and indie folk with mostly cheerful and always ear-grabbing electronic elements as well as fantastic piano work. Despite some similarities to other groups in that field, Fleet Foxes in particular, You Can’t Win, Charlie Brown has a sound that is distinctly them, as colorful as the cover suggests. There are some darker tracks deeper into the album, my favorite of which is Glimpse. The organ melody gives it a haunting vibe, which perfectly matches the wailing vocals. My absolute favorite on the album is the closer- An Ending. Similarly to the first track on the record, it starts out pretty unsuspecting, with the instrumentation building momentum until a grand finish. Chromatic was one of my favorite indie albums back in the day and I never could understand why the band never get more recognition. It might be the fact that they are from Portugal, crossing over to other countries isn’t easy. Still, they absolutely deserve better. After revisiting Chromatic again I’m more sure of it then ever. It might be weird to be nostalgic for an album that came out less then a decade ago but that’s the case for me. Even without that factor it’s a solid and unique record worth checking out.

Rating: 8/10