by Elisabeth Fuchsia
Teton is a Portland, Oregon trio consisting of composer and vocalist Elizabeth Lovell, percussionist Sam Klickner (of Chicago's Wei Zhongle), and bassist Jef Hill. Their debut album Candy Spelling is full of spooky, synth-y, rhythmically disorienting music that still somehow reads on the poppier side of things.
"Gay Honey," the album's second single, is three minutes in off-kilter synth pop heaven. Lovell's haunting, breathily articulated vocals hover haphazardly over a syncopated synth riff; the melodic lines pushing and pulling against Klickner and Hill's straight-ahead rhythm section. The combination feels gloomily dance-able, like it would be at home on the soundtrack of a Sixteen Candles reboot directed by David Lynch.
Candy Spelling is out Friday 7/28 on Portland, Maine's Pretty Purgatory.