October 10, 2001
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
Dave Pehling

The way local avant-pop band Troll pillage sonic ideas from left-field influences, it's no wonder their debut album became an in-store favorite at Aquarius Records. Playful bits of tropicalian madness careen over metronomic pulses of rhythm served straight from the Can. Buffalo Daughter drones shimmy and dance circles around whispered voices of Pothead Pixies from the planet Gong. The unpredictable pastiche of psychedelia, featuring multiple vocalists singing in five languages, might have fallen flat on its eclectic face if the band hadn't wrapped it in such tuneful ear candy. "Silver Mountain" opens the album with sparce drums and a dreamy feeling before hefty fuzz-tone guitar and effect-drenched vocals launch the song into the stratosphere during the chorus's hooky crescendo. Lotte Svenningsen's singing ranges from Nico-esque weariness on the the Velvets-Pixies surf of "Love song for Trixie" to unbridled caterwauling on "El Vampiro". While the album's quieter space-lullaby moments reveal some vocal shortcomings among the band members, the bits of off-key singing add an anarchic and endearing quality. Troll avoid wallowing in the lysergic baptismal waters of their inspirations by keeping one ear keenly focused on memorable and original melodies.