Supposedly deriving their name from Gwyneth Paltrow’s character as the daughter in The Royal Tenenbaums (actually, “adopted daughter”), Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s deliver a Wes Anderson-appropriate product that is broody, angst-ridden, occasionally dreamy, bittersweet and, of course, oh so self-conscious. The Indianapolis-by-way-of-Chicago outfit runs a fairly typical gamut of predictable, chugging chamber pop and indie rock tempered with lofty and self-reflexive literariness. “Will You Love Me Forever?”titled like a snippet of dialogue from the auteur of heartfelt awkwardness himselfopens with the declaration, “If I could roll up my money and smoke it, I would,” then promises to “take the tag off your sister and keep her for good.”
This is the cocksure half of a songwriting personality that proceeds with the mild-cheese (and possibly pro-vegetarian) likes of “My Baby (Cares for the Animals).” This is not the most even go-round for the group, certainly. But by the time of the earnest plinkings of the album closer, “I Do,” or even on the potentially silly “Tiny Vampire Robot,” it doesn’t seem unthinkable to hear the So and So’smaybe alongside Elliott Smithon the soundtrack of the next Wilson brothers vehicle.
