Review: Superorganism craft a fabulously off-kilter self-titled debut -

If you haven’t figured it out already, Superorganism is more than just a groovy moniker for the eight-member band whose sticky-sweet, gelatinous single “Something For Your M.I.N.D.” began wobbling its way into ears and hearts around the world about a year ago. In reality, the name encapsulates the way the collective paints each of their avant-garde yet unmistakably pop-conscious tunes; whether it’s during the creative process, helming song after song in their London home (seven out of eight members live there), or whether it’s in the finished product, how their music breathes and shifts as one fully formed entity, each person less a band member than a musical ligament to the body of a track.

This Friday, they’ll release their debut self-titled album to the masses, a gloriously teeming 10-song set that expands upon the shuddering sonic landscapes they introduced with “Something For Your M.I.N.D.” Half of the album already sits on streaming services. The other, unheard half neatly rounds off a record that truly positions the act as a wildly enigmatic, experimental and fun fixture, stuck between the alternative rock and pop universes.

Band members Harry, Emily, Tucan, Robert Strange, Ruby, B and Soul all fashion the album’s impressive sonic vibe through throaty disembodied vocals, soaring harmonies, dollops of dubstep and pixelated arcade synths. Most impressive though is Orono Noguchi, the 17-year-old lead vocalist who skillfully harnesses the gleeful chaos around her to bolster a breathy croon.

You hear it in the way she elongates each syllable in “It’s All Good,” literally halting the sputtering vocal clips and inebriated guitar chords with a droll, lackadaisical “Screeeam.” It’s there in “SPRORGNSM,” where she lithely dances around the charming discordance and thunderous digital static, delivering the refrain with an audible wink. It’s very much there in album standout “Night Time,” an incandescent and bubbly disco-pop banger that thinly veils a very stark and critical take on internet obsession and social media culture, Orono selling the candy-coated nightmare fully with her soaring, razor-edged coo.

The funkadelic, effortlessly cool “The Prawn Song” opens with the line “Have you ever woke up from a daydream, and realized that the world’s gone crazy?” Our world might be more than a bit crazy, but the insanity of Superorganism’s world is one we can all buy into: one of intelligent commentary, chilled out grooves and disorderly but oh-so divine dance parties.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Stream and buy Superorganism everywhere on Friday, March 2.