You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Disaster/Fix the Sunshine Pts. 1-7 (An Ode to Bill Doss)

Gloom Balloon is a solo outlet for Poison Control Center leader Patrick Tape Fleming. With the help of string arranger H.D. Harmsen and The Finezza Quartetto, this debut solo album has an accomplished, artsy feel that’s often at odds with Fleming’s own impolite lyrical tactics. “The Face” expresses Fleming’s newfound joy in the words of the happiest drunk at the end of the bar, while “Gloom Balloon” starts to sound like a mutiny in action among the backing musicians. The title track wanders into “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” while it’s sorting through the Goffin-King songbook. What qualifies as the album’s second side turns weird and lo-fi. “Chanteuse Raison D’etre” matches Fleming with an old drum machine, a looped guitar track, and enough reverb to send him to the back of the room. “Summer Buzz and Summer Fervor” breaks out the acoustic guitar and more cheap electronic hijinks. A few instrumental wiggles (“Goodbye Wren,” “Macy’s Momentum Is Growing”) later, and things finish with the small-band pop of “Fix the Sunshine.” Somewhere behind the reverb and silliness lurks a talented guy who savors the madness.