Lost Picking Flowers In The Woods (2005)
This out-of-print EP is notable for having several songs reworked for 2007's Dandelion Gum - the title track, "The Live In The Meadow", and "Drippy Eye". Since that's four out of the ten tracks, it's not that surprising that it sort of feels like a precursor to that album. While it's not a huge leap from Start A People, it does seem to be more about applying their experimentation to oddball pop songs: To put it another way, on certain tracks of that album they sounded a lot like Boards Of Canada, whereas here they pretty much never sound like anything other than Black Moth Super Rainbow. Even on the instrumental tracks there's just something there I can't put my finger on that wasn't there before - it might even just be down to using a certain synth tone more.
Which again is not to say this is exactly like Dandelion Gum - for one thing, the production isn't quite there yet: I definitely remember the four songs they reused feeling more immediate in their second appearance, and I almost kind of wish even more tracks were repeated for Dandelion Gum itself: "Flowers Grow Here" and "Caterpillar House" are excellent tracks that would have fit in well on that album, and benefited from it's less muddy production. They also do have a few much more minimal experiments here: the rumbling synth loop of "Hairy Mouth" sort of reminds me of a less chaotic version of that crazy soundtrack glitch that happens when you reach level 3 of
Lollipops* .
So in short, while four of these songs would be improved upon years later, many of the songs that aren't available anywhere else make it worth seeking out if you're a fan.
Key Tracks: Flowers Grow Here, Caterpillar House
