Review: Babe Rainbow take vibes next level with ‘Fresh as a Head of Lettuce’ EP

Babe Rainbow are expert sonic players. Across a handful of releases, including their classically-textured eponymous debut, they’ve sculpted a delectable and satisfying songbook. It’s hard to imagine how they could take their sound, so frequently zipping across the cosmos, to new heights. But that’s exactly what they’ve done with Fresh as a Head of Lettuce. It’s a four-track centerpiece that is earthy and psychedelic, sometimes meditative but always vibey.

With producer Timon Martin (Kimbra, Molly Lewis) in tow, the hippiefied fourpiece shovel loads of starstruck choices — as you’ll find in the six-minute epoch “Loading Quicksilver with Pitchfork” — into their typically sun-dazed aesthetic. “The sun is wearing shades, laughing at luna park / Have you seen matt c lately? / Exploding exit pearl,” Angus Dowling sings on the EP bookender, their most ambitious of the litter.

Where lead-off single “Super Ego” sets a chillwave mood, ebbing and flowing in puffs of smoke, “Sunshine” goes for a head-bobbin’ good time with its jaunty, shimmery outer coating. “There’s life moving right out of the page, meditating on your sweet rays” sings Dowling. “Your rugs fraying out shake it all over / When I listen to the radio roar, nothing on my mind but the sunshine.”

Then, there’s “Paradise Garage,” a rhythmically-tribal detour through the musical landscape of the southern hemisphere. “Every morning that’s the time / Feel the love in paradise,” the lyrics fall like droplets of rain, “and one of these fine days, we’ll all be somebody else.” Even Dowling’s voice rings differently here, slinky and boldly incandescent. There’s just something special about the way he slides and grooves over melodies like he has not a care in the world. 

Zagging here, there, and everywhere, Fresh as a Head of Lettuce finds the band with renewed energy and creativity. If it weren’t evident before, it’s alarmingly clear they possess a free spirit to write and record what they want, when they want. And they’re just getting started, even as they’re already six releases deep in their career. This is the thrilling new chapter to their ongoing saga. And I can’t wait to hear where they could possibly go from here.

Fresh as a Head of Lettuce drops everywhere June 30.

Follow Babe Rainbow on their socials: Facebook | Instagram | Website