Epitome of new age?

An extremely unique listen, Minneapolis’ Gayngs releases a long-awaited album, Relayted. After a year of recording and the efforts of over 25 contributing musicians, Relayted is either the most absurd album created since Zappa, or a work of complete genius.

It’s wholesome and broken, harmonious and cataclysmic, rough and pleasant, held together with consistency by the contrasting vocals of Zack Coutler and Nate Vernon, as well as the smooth electric keys and funky R&B bass. Everything else varies from sounding vocally like The Fleet Foxes or TV on the Radio to R. Kelly or Usher.

Musically, the band varies from sounding like your mother’s favorite cheesy Christmas album to The Mars Volta, and all the static and noise one could imagine between the two. Honestly, it seems to be the perfect representation of an overly stimulated generation: slightly directionless, stuffed with too many almost-great ideas due to the lack of one truly great one.

Overall the album might be considered an R&B album because of the electric keys, female backups and Vernon’s vocals, but much more comes to life with each listen. The first track, “The Gaudy Side of Town,” was first a rough track involving the mighty force of the trio of Coutler, Ryan Olson and Adam Hurlburt.

It seems to set the scene for the rest of the album…sort of. It begins with some crackly looped beatboxing followed by an electronic drum beat, a jazzy saxophone filling and the Gayngs’ signature smooth vocals reverbed to the end of the earth, straight to outer space. It sounds like something you would hear on late-night public radio, “electric lounge baby” kind of music. They are unique in their seemingly limitless storage of tricks up their sleeves, but it is hard to define the nature of their tricks.

“The Gaudy Side of Town,” for example, takes a wholly unexpected turn at the end of the song—a quietness that leads to a swirling and whizzing sound collage of beautifully uplifting strings and noises, leading straight into the next tune.

“The Walker” ends similarly in regards to its unexpectedness, only it is quite a bit more terrifying. A majority of the song is echoey in the most indie sense of the word and littered with beats like gunshots, southern-rock slide guitar and haunting ooh’s and aah’s. Fairly unchanging throughout the song, the ending is like flipping pages through weird samples of deep demonic vocals and coffee shop conversation and static, eventually giving way to jazzy electric keys, so misplaced that the effect is tackiness.

“Cry” is perhaps one of the band’s most popular songs. Its music video fits perfectly with the whole multiverse (as opposed to universe) feel of the album. Face after face trick the eye as they morph into another, all singing the same tune, with the same distressed look on each of their faces, adorned with nothing but black surroundings. Even though the lyrics seem too sentimental to be taken seriously, the vocal harmonies at the end are exquisite.

One of the most unexpected tunes, a real mind-blower, is “False Bottom,” which follows the suspense of tasteful feedback and honey-like saxophone of the previous song, “No Sweat.” It is an incredible explosion of horns like a flock of seagulls or a herd of angry elephants followed by a no-less impressive vocal jam that crumbles away, like the rest, into a gentle slumber. The outro is like city lights flashing in the stillness of dawn, where the wind blows smoke with the cautious curiosity of a kitten.

Unfortunately, the last song on the album is a bit of a letdown. Whether or not the artists are being sarcastic or mocking, this track comes off as extremely superficial. Titled “The Last Prom on Earth,” this song would fit perfectly to that Disney-movie prom scene, complete with melodramatic closeness and conflict.

It is hard to say why they chose to end such a unique album with a song whose climax is not sung but spoken over synthesized bells and strings: “This will be our last prom, full of nothing but silly little love songs, I promise. And no matter what we did in the past, or what you think of me, your opinions, I promise, from now on, I’ll be true. But if you don’t trust me girl, that’s okay, I understand…” These words aren’t any less than what one would expect to hear in an old R&B tune, spoken with a deep sensuality.

Everyone can listen to Relayted and, well, relate. There’s something for everyone to grasp onto and something for everyone to push away. It’s just how you listen to it.