Myths 002 is the second release in a series of collaborative EPs spawned from the annual Marfa Myths festival, held in Marfa, Texas in association with nonprofit organization Ballroom Marfa and the Brooklyn-based Mexican Summer label.
This volume brings together Ariel Pink and Weyes Blood (Natalie Mering), who have worked together before -- Mering sang on Pink's 2012 album Mature Themes, and both artists appeared together on albums by Mild High Club and Drugdealer.
The EP contains four playful, eclectic songs that gleefully switch genres at will, displaying a sense of humor common to Pink's work but not always evident in Mering's.
Opener "Tears on Fire" is a schizophrenic, collage-like tune that abruptly flips between gentle, dreamy acoustic psych-pop and bombastic hard rock, with Mering's operatic vocals joined by blazing prog-metal guitar and Pink's full-throated growl.
There's also a bridge that cuts off mid-thought.
Think "Some Velvet Morning" but cartoonish and somewhat ridiculous.
"Daddy, Please Give a Little Time to Me" is a woozy waltz over languid bass synth and a slapping beat, and the brief, pretty song would be a lot more relaxing if Mering's lyrics weren't so creepy.
"Morning After" is a lot closer to the lush, baroque folk-pop of Weyes Blood's albums, but there's something a bit disturbed about it.
It feels calm and breezy, but also somewhat tense.
Best of all is "On Another Day," a gloriously gloomy live duet that sounds like a lost early-'80s British dark post-punk classic.
Slightly disjointed and lopsided, Myths 002 is nevertheless a fun, worthwhile venture.