Top Favorite Albums of 2014 - ZABA by Glass Animals

Favorite Tracks 
“Gooey”
“Pools”
“Hazey”

I honestly cannot remember how I even came across the debut album “ZABA” by English indie outfit Glass Animals, but I’m so glad I did. Glass Animals has a sound so creepy and tribal that it doesn’t seem made for this world. Lead singer David Bayley’s hushed and hypnotizing vocals are calming and sensual yet unsettling all at once, but the jungle rhythm and sultry bass lines keep you hooked in. “Gooey,” the lead single off the album, captures the band’s entire essence with its dreamy intro and strangely suggestive lyricism. The words just ooze out of Bayley too, making the song too persuasive to ignore. From that single alone, I was impressed by Glass Animals ability to incorporate tribal elements like animal sounds and complex rhythms into a contemporary indie sound all without sounding cheesy or forced. Glass Animals are the masters of genre blending on ZABA, with songs like “Pools” and “Hazey” bringing a pop-infused playfulness into the mix as well. Glass Animals latches on to the core emotions founding each genre they draw from for a sound that is both thoughtful lyrically and spirited in their instrumentation. I could not do this countdown without ZABA because Glass Animals is unlike any band I’ve heard in a long time, which is both scary and exciting all at once.