Saharan Gazelle Boy, a.k.a. multi-instrumentalist Darin Seal, wants to know if it’s still lame to write songs about girls. At 24, he doesn’t even know if he should call women his age “girls” anymore. It seemed more appropriate when he was 17 and recording his first album, an awful CD-R he handed out during yearbook signing day. Seven years and as many albums later, Airplanes Can’t is his latest project, and it’s bedroom pop at its best. Recorded between the release of his band Capybara’s debut album Try Brother and their 2009 national tour, Airplanes Can’t is at times a spacious record for a lazy summer spent underwater, and at other times a lofty dedication to fleeting but all-consuming love.
