Sami Martasian (Puppy Problems) and JM Dussault (T-T)b) have started a new musical collaboration (together with Nick Dussault (also of (T-T)b) and Alex Judd) which they describe as noisy slacker pop. Which is an okay description, but King’s Evil is just as much slowcore (on the title track and theme song King’s Evil) and jangly, Pavement-esque indie rock (on the excellent Sneezed and Jerry), while the gorgeous closer Tsavt Tanem is almost reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens. Throughout it all, it sounds like real music created by actual human beings.

The lyrics are gloriously sideways, full of strange images and crooked jokes, but there’s a surprisingly tender heart underneath all that surrealism. Failure, self-doubt and lost love keep bubbling up, and there is no shortage of quotable lines. “Buying a book is not the same thing as reading When I think about you it’s not like when I’m dreaming. Change is gonna come but I’ll try to resist it. You said something sweet, but I sneezed and I missed it” is one of my favorites, from the aforementioned Sneezed.

Martasian and Dussault sure have a way with sounds and words, don’t they?

The King’s Evil EP is out now on Worry Bead Records.

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