I'm an avid fan of experimentation, but Tygerstrype's venture into the rather broad genre leaves much to be desired. A Philadelphian outfit, 'Lackadaisical Daisy' is an aptly ironic title for their debut. A lackadaisical chap is one who lacks enthusiasm and determination, a trait reflected in Tygerstrype's inability to perfect and refine their potentially magnificence sounds. Not every track falls into this hole, but the majority do. The downfall of both the band and the record is for me, the sense that they thought that a few resolute numbers would offset the ones lying battered and bruised upon the sonic battleground. 'Open Notes' starts this conflict, a nice psychedelic vibe presented at the introduction soon becoming tiresome as the lead singer plays around with annoyingly prolonged notes. The second half's beat is a fantastic one, marred again by strange vocalise and half-hearted singing. 'Angelic Eyes' is better, guitars joining the electronic phrases with ease. However, it soon descends into the same grating howls we heard before, cutting the song into two halves with unprecedented awkwardness. The instrumental experimentation on 'Lackadaisical Daisy' is stunning, and never more so than at the end of 'Angelic Eyes', but this alone cannot support the rest of the LP. The clashing notes of 'MRKT Madness' make pleasant nostalgia turn sour, while a dreadfully lazy set of vocal drum beats make the thoughtfully written lyrics of 'Diggity Dang Dum Dum' little more than pointless. The overly-layered sounds on 'Malevolence' irritate, even while the instrumentation absent singing rides upon the waves of admirable maturity!
The second half of 'Lackadaisical Daisy' is surprisingly outstanding, sporting refinement and control and a lot more thought than their predecessors. However, it didn't manage to offset the scales and raise the bowl of exasperation and vexation to a manageable level. I am not going to return to 'Lackadaisical Daisy' any time soon but stream 'MRKT Madness' below, and you may think differently. If you do you can grab the whole album for free here!
