Other times, it fades to watered-down sweet tea.
It’s occasionally tender, too. “Darkness” showcases singer Arish Ahmad Khan’s sizzling, sooty vocals. Gunsmoke guitar hovers over ivory ripples. The track shines a light on Khan’s mental waves, marinating in the sinful stuff floating in all our bodies. It’s a creeper, slinking in halfway through the album. The soft break is a welcome one, carrying into the sticky, red vinyl booth that is “Pray for Lil.” Keg-tosser “Better Luck Next Time” makes psych-garage sound pretty and taunting.
The middle of Idle proves strongest, sandwiched between meh-to-almost obnoxious tracks (save the brain-sticky “I Got Made” and bummer lullaby “Of Madness I Dream”). “Bite My Tongue” stresses me out, swinging around like a cracked-out remnant from last night’s rager. The horns grow strangely hyper, punching your head each time Khan drawls the chorus. “Bad Boy” aims for cute with male-female vocal blending, but falls short in grating kitsch territory.
Ultimately Idle holds a handful of jewels in its bag of parking lot gravel. It’s far from terrible, but it’s equidistant from that and “worth a dozen more spins.” However, given Khan’s legendary stage presence, who knows? Let’s hope this album pulls off a live show better than its stereo one.
