Many times have I purchased an album on the strength of a single song I heard on the radio, only to find that it was the only song I liked on the collection; as if the artist had said, “Let’s try something different with this one,” struck gold, but then did not follow the vein. This time, as a listener, I decided to do something different. Rather than buying the album, I went to see The Mumlers at the Echo, who I had only liked because of the song “Coffin Factory”.

Spoiler alert: I was not disappointed. “Coffin Factory” is still probably my favorite song and now I know it also serves as a fair representative of their overall sound, which is some mystical blend of The Shins and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Not so much the “screaming” part as the darkness that his music presents.

I had initially scoffed at the idea, asserted by frontman Will Sprott, that he tries not to repeat himself musically. During the performance each song flowed together so smoothly, it could have been one song (barring the obligatory stage banter). But now that I’ve had a chance to dig into their repertoire — many full songs are available to stream at themumlers.com — each song shimmers with its own individuality and uniqueness. The band is lucky to have two Jacks-of-all-trades in their line up. John played the saxophone, Felix played a Euphonium, and they both traded off between lead guitar, tambourine, and a set of vibrophones. Felix went so far as to play his euphonium and tambourine at the same time

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Pimp.

And he was a pimp in Los Angeles, at the Echo, which is a pretty swanky little place. The backdrop of the stage is a series of fluorescent looking white panels, upon which colored lights are projected. And of course (I always laugh when I see this, though it is incredibly common) there are a pair of disco balls hanging from the ceiling, spinning at varying speeds. Looking up from the stage at the little fractals of light moving around the walls made me feel as if I was in some dark fifties ballroom dream. It all seems to speak of zombies…

The video for “Coffin Factory” portrays Will Sprott with long hair obscuring his face. While standing in the audience, watching band members set up, I was waiting to see when he would come out when I spotted a thin, scruffy looking fellow in a trucker hat — a cleaned up Rob Zombie, if you will — tossing cables around and giving directions, but this turned out to be their moonlighting bass player, Ed Masuga. He has a solo project, a nice collection of contemporary blues/folk songs somewhat reminiscent of The Devil Makes Three, if they wrote prettier music.

I am a fan.

Will Sprott is now sporting a short, school-boyish haircut which rather matches his personality. The thing about many of the acts I see these days is that I haven’t really got any idea how big their following is, or how the size of their following affects their collective egos. That being said, all of the people I spoke to in the Mumlers were more than pleasant and incredibly humble in regards to their abundant talent. They were touring alongside Two Gallants and opened for them (if you don’t count the local acts), but I would not be surprised to see them headlining their own tour soon. Actually, I think they would provide a nice contrast to a more virulent band, like Man Man, or Streetlight Manifesto.

In other words, I will be purchasing an album soon.

Photo: Mario Guel