Back in January we previewed 1000 Variations on the Same Song, the new full-length from New York favourites Frog on Audio Antihero and Tapewormies. An album which, “runs the gamut between indie rock, alt country and smoky lounge cool,” as we put it, “and packs the expected density and diversity of references from a Frog release,” with Daniel Bateman nodding to My Chemical Romance, Gucci, Stillwell construction supplies, fatherhood, the 6 train and seemingly a million other things. But for all of these maximalist sensibilities, the record also lives up to its title by repeatedly orbiting the same ideas. “1000 Variations on the Same Song is a theme and variations,” as Bateman explains. “There are times in your life as a songwriter where you’ll start a bunch of stuff that all sounds alike, which can be a problem, something that you want to excise from yourself. This time I decided to embrace it and take it as far as it could go.”
True to the singular Frog style, the result is something of a juxtaposition between variance and uniformity. The songs circle around the same themes but reach far and wide for materials with which to do so, both in terms of substance and style. Which is to say, the eleven tracks might be the same song in a fundamental sense, but the key is in the variations of the title. Each possesses its own unique sensibility and genre leanings, and viewed together the album represents a snapshot of Frog’s history (and potential future) in a stratified form. Something that starts with ‘TOP OF THE POPS VAR. I’, which, together with its successor ‘DOOMSCROLLING VAR. II’, is something of a throwback to the frantic indie rock of the project’s early years.
From there, the variations keep on coming, and Frog fanatics will have fun aligning the style and tone with the different stations along the project’s lifespan. There’s a clear twang to tracks like ‘WHERE DO I SIGN VAR. III’ and ‘HOUSEBROKEN VAR. IV’ which harks back to the alt-country overtones of Count Bateman and Grog, while the festive single ‘DID SANTA COME VAR. IX‘ typifies a more recent turn towards a lounge vibe equal parts smoky and smooth. A similar mood runs through ‘JUST USE YR HIPS VAR. VI’ too, a sinuous, almost sensual song which follows the lead of its own name in its playful groove. The effect is something like that of a phylogenetic tree, where the same amphibian DNA passes through generation after generation, morphing through all manner of phenotypes yet retaining that Frog spirit through them all. Just where this organism will evolve next is anyone’s guess, but we have a thousand possibilities to get through yet.
1000 Variations on the Same Song is out now via Audio Antihero and Tapewormies and available from Bandcamp.