Poor Andy Gonzales. On the cover of Marshmallow Coasting, the Marshmallow Coast frontman is depicted standing on a street corner, holding a sign that says WILL PLAY TO FOOD. Originally, the sign read WILL PLAY FOR FOOD, but the "for" was crossed out, and replaced with a "to." And it kind of makes sense. If Andy Gonzales were to stand on a street corner, begging for table scraps, he would probably starve within a few weeks. So, what choice does he have, except to try to entice the food itself? Ah, yes-- excellent logic.

The Marshmallow Coast is back! And it's kind of surprising, too, considering that Seniors and Juniors seems to have been released only a week ago. But whereas Seniors and Juniors played out like a bad imitation of the already intolerable Music Tapes, Marshmallow Coasting emulates the Athens twee-pop sound of Of Montreal, the members of which all appear on this record. Most of the irritating, wacky instruments found on Seniors and Juniors are gone, replaced here with the simpler guitar, bass, drums, and occasional keyboards arrangement. As a result, a few parts of Marshmallow Coasting are actually somewhat tolerable. For the most part, though, the album is an exercise in bad, imitative songwriting.

"Audience is Listening" opens Marshmallow Coasting with a painful sonic assault of poorly arranged instruments. But by the time the second track, "Lilypad," comes around, it seems that Gonzales has remembered that his band is on Kindercore. The record begins to reveal itself for what it truly is: Of Montreal playing unpleasant rip-offs of Of Montreal songs. But whereas Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes' songs are pure saccharine pop, Gonzales' songwriting is closer in nature to baking soda, picking up the more odious traits of other Kindercore bands and adding little flavor of its own.

To make matters worse, there's the ever-present annoyance of Gonzalez's voice, which sounds quite like a cross between Kermit the Frog and Elvis Costello on helium. The fact that his songs are mediocre is bad enough, but ultimately, it's the way he sings them that makes them truly torturous.

There's a very telling bio of Gonzales up at Kindercore's website-- one in which he describes how he was inspired by his friend, Julian Koster of the Music Tapes, to move to Athens, Georgia and tour with him. Thus, his first album did indeed sound "inspired" by the Music Tapes. Now that Gonzales has recorded an album with Of Montreal as his backing band, Marshmallow Coasting sounds like a poor man's Of Montreal. Was there no question about signing this guy? Did the guys at Kindercore even listen to this before releasing it? I seriously want to know.

So, it appears that Marshmallow Coasting's cover is quite appropriate; as of yet, Andy Gonzales has yet to contribute any element of originality to his music, leaving him begging for scraps from his friends. Please, if you see Andy Gonzales begging for food, do not give him any, no matter how cute he might seem. Perhaps if he's starved of direct influence, he'll manage to come up with something of his own.

-Matt LeMay