This Is Our Jam: Unknown Mortal Orchestra, “So Good At Being In Trouble”

When Unkown Mortal Orchestra came onto the scene a couple years ago, it was with fuzzy swaths of psych guitar, catchy-but-unconventional song structures, and a shoegazey penchant for sheepish (but effective) live performances. If anything, we might have predicted that the band would fully embrace its pop elements for full-on mainstream indie appeal. Yet, while UMO have gotten smoother, its new single "So Good At Being In Trouble," is also much stranger than we would have anticipated.

Set somewhere between psych-pop and old school R&B, the track is built around a lilting guitar melody that crackles with feedback. Lead-singer Ruban Nielson delivers the chorus "So good at being in trouble / so bad at being in love," with a vaguely timorous, even timid affect. The same line could have been a half-cocked humble brag, but UMO keep things so low key, the words just drift on by. While funked-up indie has been a big trend lately with bands like Blood Orange and Twin Shadow, Unknown Mortal Orchestra have stripped the pomp from the genre, leaving behind something so buttery, we can't take our headphones off.

Unkown Mortal Orchestra—II "So Good At Being In Trouble"