Lost Animal

While it's only reaching North American shores officially now, Lost Animal's debut, Ex Tropical, has already been showered with "Best Album of 2012" accolades in its native Australia. Lost Animal is the solo project of Jarrod Quarrell, following previous act St. Helens, who only stuck around for one album. It isn't a subtle release. Quarrell fills each song with layer upon layer of synth and guitar, throws in some very glossy production and then adds his brooding drawl on top of it all. By the midway point, Ex Tropical has settled into a comfortably overwrought state that it just doesn't want to give up and so it grinds along without accomplishing anything it didn't already in the first half. Ex Tropical has some good moments, most notably "Lose The Baby" and "Say No To Thugs," but much of it is too unremarkable for it to be anything but a decent starting point for Quarrell to build upon.