2010, Frenchkiss Records

VINYL FORMAT. Local Natives make soaring, sky-scraping harmonies, dreamy orchestral melodies, and throbbing tribal beats that bash their way into your soul. Theirs are songs you can dance to almost as well as you can swoon to them. Drawing a line from the vocal stylings of Crosby Stills Nash & Young and the Zombies through the more esoteric edges of post-punk and Afro-beat, this California five piece have communally crafted a brand of indie rock all their own. For Local Natives everything is a collaboration, from song writing duties to the band's self produced artwork. The three part harmonies come courtesy of keyboardist Kelcey Ayer, guitarists Ryan Hahn and Taylor Rice. Then there's Matt Frazier on drums and Andy Hamm on bass, who look after the band's equally impressive graphics and artwork.

It was in December 2008 that the band decamped to Silver Lake, where they all live in the same house. But the Silver Lake digs isn't the first house the band have shared. They lived together in Orange County too, in a place affectionately known as Gorilla Manor. "It was insanely messy and there were always friends over knocking around on guitars or our thrift store piano," says Ryan, "it was an incredible experience and I'll never forget that time." The original Gorilla Manor, where the band wrote the majority of their record, had such an impact that the band has paid tribute to the house by naming their debut album in its honor. The self-funded Gorilla Manor was recorded by Raymond Richards in West Los Angeles. Richards produced the record with Local Natives in his own Red Rockets Glare Studio. Featuring twelve sumptuous slices of dappled California sunlight and beguiling percussive rhythms, the album kicks off with the moody, driving, "Wide Eyes." Says Ryan: "It's about people's obsession with the miraculous and disastrous. . . with witnessing extraordinary events." The effervescent, mandolin boasting "Airplanes" follows, which Kelcey explains is about "longing to