"THE NIGHT BEFORE MY 26TH, I SAW A UFO AT THE DRIVE-IN..."

FUTO a.k.a. Patrick Brick writes about liking his "Little Life", reflected in the subtle updates to 2021's "Outstanding In His Field" cover art: same thrush of green, but this time, face washed-out in exposure, holding a LEGO truck (self-made), dressed in garb befitting of his dayjob as admin assistant for Athens-Clarke County Parks & Rec. FUTO songs tend to operate similarly: in clipped vignettes, drawn straight from present or memory, and delivered conversationally.

But there's a literary poignance (and a poet's editing hand) that shows how much Leonard Cohen he's imbibed over the years; the type of songsmith that can drum up the saddest song on earth out of 3 major chords. Brick also attacks each song's homespun production with elegance & specificity -- splintering them off towards creaky, acoustic ambience of early Microphones, or the more fuzzed-out near-hyperpop that's creeped into the last few Futo releases as he pushes past more conventional synthpop into deeper, dub-ier sample-based collage forms.

In particular, the drum patterns have become less rigid -- moving from the gridded, steely, post-punk of some earlier synth-based Futo towards choppier, rap-inflected Dilla-isms that move like you're churning a music box and, in turn, keep you hanging on every beat. The acoustic guitar appears on nearly every track here, but the end result is more Standing On The Corner than Elliott Smith. Fractured, sublime, yet very grounded instead of ethereal.

"Behind the Kohl's", the shortest track, is a glowing example of all this, riding a jittery Kraftwerkian groove as Brick imagines a suburban dystopia where the deer & humans opt to disappear into the woods together. There's a dead-serious yet hilarious ode to destroying "Public Art" because it blocks the view of the river -- "I'M GOING TO THE RIVER/TO TAKE BACK WHAT IS MINE" -- that rings absurdly close to the recent "blue squiggles" public art controversy of recent downtown Athens despite being written in 2021. Art imitates life.

Going back thru the Marching Banana catalog, theres a period around 2014 (MBR-20/30ish) where Patrick put out about ~10 entire releases between FUTO and his supergroup with Erin Lovett (Four Eyes) KISSING BOOTH, all bearing his face, mostly in different Olan Mills-esque glamour portraits of the Tim & Eric ilk. It's insane to think we're nearing 9 years on the release of the debut Futo album DOG DREAMS! We are truly honored that he's still churning them out. Brick claims some of these songs have been sitting around for awhile -- "UFO's" first appeared on our POPULAR MUSIC THAT WILL LIVE FOREVER compilation nearly 2 years ago -- but that's probably why all of the Futo stuff holds up: it's built to last. Built Futo Tough. Back like he never left.