Black Moth Super Rainbow: Eating Us

Forget the “moth” and the “super”—the most important words in Black Moth Super Rainbow’s name are the first and the last. Eating Us, the fourth album from the Pennsylvania synthedelic band, is arguably its most accessible yet: It tones down the mind-blowing distortion and plays up the group’s melodic sense and danceable rhythms. But Eating Us still continues BMSR’s prismatic approach to pop, running catchy sounds through filters that render the music ominous from one perspective and sunny from another. The style is simultaneously familiar in its throwback disco-funk vibe (at times, Eating Us resembles the soundtrack to a malfunctioning 1970s filmstrip) and unsettling in its intimations of a future dominated by big machines whirring along with little to no human intervention. A song like the offbeat ballad “Gold Splatter”—which sounds like a melting robot trying to express love—puts a positive spin on a mood of subtle sorrow, and like the best Black Moth Super Rainbow songs, it sports a rich, satisfying shade of dark.