Music review: Building a bomb

Little Tybee, 'Building a Bomb'

Little Tybee, Building a Bomb, 3.5 of 5 stars

It’s rare that a band fuses disparate sounds and influences effectively, but Atlanta-based Little Tybee accomplishes this feat on Building a Bomb, deftly blending bluegrass, pop, Americana and world music in one seamless package.

The title track exemplifies the band’s ability to unite this menagerie of influences. Integrating the mournful sounds of fiddle and keyboards with traces of Brazilian bossa nova, the band wrangles what could have been a disjointed sonic array into something smooth and intricate.

The song’s ebb and flow mirrors the aesthetic of the rest of the record. Multifaceted and winding, it’s an exploration of sonic texture.

Unlike many other freshly formed bands — Little Tybee came into being in the winter of this year — Building a Bomb feels intentional in its every facet. The arts-and-crafts-style album art that opens like origami to the order of the tracks, the lyrics, melodies and illustrations perpetuate a delicately balanced momentum.

While the band proves to be skillful at uniting an array of influences, the record grows homogenous after a few songs. With the exception of the hymn-like, “I Wonder Which House The Fish Will Live In,” tempo and instrumentation rarely differ from track to track, and after a while, the poignant strains of violin begin to sound commonplace. And Brock Scott’s soft, illustrative vocals run together.

Little Tybee might forsake heavy experimentation on its first full-length, but its combination of storytelling and stylistic innovation imbues each song with a playfulness and texture that should keep audiences interested. Building a Bomb may rely on repetition, but when the sound is so intriguing, it’s hard to care.