Hype is a strange beast. The whims of the masses (and record label marketing departments) are fickle and unreliable. Bands come out of the ether draped in hype and mass acclaim, only to disappear shortly after without much of an impact.

And when Gorilla Manor first dropped, I completely expected Local Natives to be another one of these flash-in-the-pan, Apple-commercial-soundtrack bands.

Rarely have I been more wrong.

While I listened to this record when it came out, it wasn’t until after Hummingbird came out that actually gave it a shot. My first listen was shallow enough that I wrote them off as just another band trying to rip off Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, and Bon Iver. And while they may share some elements with those acts—most notably huge, beautiful harmonies, they’re a top-tier indie band in their own right. Not a ripoff at all, but a worthy contemporary.

When I revisited this album years later, I was amazed to find a distinctly beautiful record far from the imposter pastiche I thought I heard earlier. While there are plenty of bouncing, poppy indie rock songs, the album spends much more time in a dark, brooding urgency. Double-time drums, voodoo bass, and neurotic electric guitars pair with piano, strings, and the aforementioned huge harmonies.

And to great effect.

Opener “Wide Eyes” opens the record with an ominous foreboding. “Sun Hands” rides a dark, frenetic groove until it explodes with primal, chaotic energy. “Cards & Quarters” brings the tempo down a notch while maintaining the same dark energy. There’s also a cover of “Warning Sign” by the Talking Heads, which is performed with such earnestness I bought as their own until I listened a little closer.

It’s not all bad omens and paranoia: there’s a brighter side to the record too. “World News” dances around a gleeful acoustic guitar. “Camera Talk” is an upbeat ode to world travel. “Stranger Things” is triumphant and string-laden.

But this is not a flawless record. None of the songs are bad by any stretch. I had a hard time narrowing down the highlights—and I still somehow missed “Who Knows, Who Cares.” Rather, the album is just a little uneven. The bouncing, sentimental “Airplanes” hardly sounds like it belongs on the same record as “Wide Eyes” or “Sun Hands,” but it’s right between them. Local Natives created some astonishingly beautiful songs on Gorilla Manor, but as a whole, the album has a hard time finding its voice. But despite that, this still a great debut by a band that would later find themselves rapidly ascending my all-time favs list.