Album Review: Migrant Kids - Migrant Kids

Artist: Migrant KidsAlbum: Migrant KidsRelease Date: September 24, 2013With their self-titled debut, Migrant Kids do the ironic, idiomatic, and oh-so-cliché.  And?  They do it well.  The Austin-based trio reinvents the wheel.  (If the wheel was a spectral, post-rock entity.)  Their sound, atmospheric and ethereal much in the way of fellow indie rockers The Antlers and Grizzly Bear, works as the perfect vehicle for their collaborative heartbreak, told to the listener through nine tracks of woeful reflection on love come and gone.All comparisons aside, by taking the already done but not quite done-to-death vibe of space-age-gone-emo and taking it one step further into the great unknown, Migrant Kids find a musical moonscape to call their own. Lead singer and guitarist Miguel Ojeda’s soothing vocals oscillate between distinct to secondary to the surrealist noise that carries from song to song, dark and thought-provoking at best and redundant at its very worst.  It makes sense the band cites off-beat influences like David Lynch and Constantin Stanislavski, an experimental filmmaker and the originator of distinctive acting methods, respectively.Stand-outs include “Canvas Of Me,” the album’s first single, on which Ojeda begs the question, “How is your life?” with rain water and guitar backing his sadness about life being, well, less than great.  “Blanco,” a few tracks later, also stands as a worthwhile listen.  Ojeda sings in Spanish, references Sufjan Stevens, and transforms your world into a telenovela drama with a mellower, black-and-white aesthetic.  At the very least, feeling wistful feels cooler.  All-in-all?  Migrant Kids show prepubescent promise and have all the makings of a band worth keeping an ear out for.Rating (by pizza size):10″ (small pie)12″ (medium pie)14″ (large pie)16″ (X-large pie)18″ (Really big pizza)