Creeper Lagoon

Watering Ghost Garden (SpinArt)
by Tim Den

It has been a quiet two-plus years for Creeper Lagoon, whose Pavement-like brilliance has been stuck behind the mixing boards for DreamWorks ever since they were voted Best New Artist by Spin readers in ’98. To remind the public why a band like Creeper Lagoon became a cult hit without a barrage of press and radio coverage, SpinArt has released a hold-you-over EP that not only surpasses the quality of the band’s debut, but hints at the enormous potential of the upcoming major label debut.

Watering Ghost Garden, although only six songs, has the San Franciscan quartet focusing more on the cotton candy, tongue-twisting, goose-bump-giving melodies that the debut only toyed with. Thought “Wonderful Love” and “Empty Ships” were quirky little ditties? Wait ’til you hear “Roman Hearts” and “Big Money Struggle.” Holy guilty pleasure. I know somewhere the Bible of Indie Rock says you can’t be as picture perfect a slacker as Stephen Malkmus and be as musically endearing as Travis, but man: fuck the Good Book. Creeper Lagoon proves that the sum is bigger than its parts.

From beginning to end, Watering Ghost Garden is well-paced with tricky instrumental terrain, wide-open roaming space for vocals, and a charming sense of drowsiness, plagueing rather than enhancing most other slacker bands. The fact that Creeper Lagoon can hide out for two years and come back with something as amazing as this EP proves that the full-length will be worth the wait.
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