Review: Irving | Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers

We've spent a lot of time in the last week being firmly on the fence with regards to Irving. And that is where we've decided to stay. The Los Angeles-based quintet deals in fully realized indie pop, but projecting originality doesn't seem to be Irving's thing. Referents spring up at every turn, as if the band is carrying around its entire collective record collection. Still, much of the time this isn't a bad thing. Some of Irving's music holds echoes of classic alternative acts like The Church (curiously, Irving's bassist's surname is Church) and, well, Echo and The Bunnymen. Elsewhere there's mod teeth-chatter (check the title track) and catchy '90s FM Radio Modern Rock ("Lovely, Just Like Her). The best material is packed toward the back-end of the record and affects a cool mid-tempo sway. We're particularly fond of the steady strummer "The Longest Day In The Afternoon" and the bleepy hand-clapper "If You Say Jump, I Will Say No." Surprisingly, there is a cohesiveness to Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers, which streeted today on Eenie Meenie. As you might expect, the band is out on the road for the next month promoting it, and we've got the dates below. Some of these shows are with current indie wunderkinds Voxtrot -- for details check the dates at the Irving MySpace yert.

[Buy Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers at Insound]

04/05 -- Elbo's -- Dayton, OH
04/06 -- The Manhattan Room -- Philadelphia, PA
04/07 -- MACRock Festival -- Harrisonburg, VA
04/08 -- Georgetown University -- Washington, DC
04/09 -- Mercury Lounge -- New York, NY
04/10 -- Mercury Lounge -- New York, NY
04/11 -- LuLu Wang Center -- Wellesley, MA
04/12 -- La Sala Rossa -- Montreal, QC
04/13 -- Sneaky Dee's -- Toronto, ON
04/14 -- Lager House -- Detroit, MI
04/15 -- The Empty Bottle -- Chicago, IL
04/17 -- Triple Rock Social Club -- Minneapolis, MN
04/18 -- Vaudeville Mews -- Des Moines, IA
04/19 -- The Jackpot Saloon -- Lawrence, KS
04/20 -- Opolis Productions -- Norman, OK
04/21 -- Good Records In-Store -- Dallas, TX
04/21 -- Hailey's Club -- Denton, TX
04/22 -- Emo's -- Austin, TX
04/24 -- Burts Tiki Lounge -- Albuquerque, NM
04/25 -- Modified Arts -- Phoenix, AZ
05/02 -- Crocodile -- Seattle, WA
05/03 -- Towne Lounge -- Portland, OR
05/04 -- The Dip -- Redding, CA
05/05 -- The Attic -- Santa Cruz, CA
05/06 -- Rickshaw Stop -- San Francisco, CA
05/07 -- Spaceland -- Los Angeles, CA