4 out of 5

Label: Sub Pop

Produced by: Brian Deck

For its short time in the world, the Perishable label delivered some notable folksters into the world, not only allowing for Califone’s drone Americana thing to work its way through its formative electronic elements, but also giving us the kitchen-sink plodding or orSo, the blistering oddball rock of Fire Show, and some Doug Scharin jazz freakouts as HiM.  As a one-off, in a quiet, less busy corner, came Fruits Bats’ Echolocation, a cozy collection of pop that maintained its Perishable rep by having an acerbic edge to it.

But maybe that wasn’t quite the identity FB frontman Eric D. Johnson really desired for his band.  So Perishable folds, pleasant folk gets the spotlight thanks to groups like The Shins, and Fruit Bats found themselves at Sub Pop, still with producer Brian Deck in tow to keep them nicely grounded in strumminess, and allowing EDJ to cast a ton of sunshine over his reflections on life and livin’.  Not that Johnson’s lyrics aren’t without half-smiles and clouds, but there’s definitely a sense of moving onward and upward, if at a casual, comfortable pace.  Musically, Mouthfuls is delightfully lush, providing a good mix of catchy oomph and laidback acoustics; with Deck’s flourishes of subtle percussion and warm keys throughout.  The era of the release unfortunately demanded some ‘extras’ as well, coming in the form of some electronic bleeps and bloops that are an ill-fit for the green fields and blue skies of Mouthfuls’ tales, but it’s mostly played off well.

Fruit Bats would travel through slightly rockier phases or more stripped back phases hereafter; while Echolocation was a lot of fun, it felt like a younger brother to the Perishable crowd, with Mouthfuls ultimately a stronger and more confident album, and incredibly enjoyable on its own terms.