The New Weird Ashevillians of Alligator Indian bring a fitting sense of daring and wonder to their AHA AVL installment. The hazy goth-romantic pop swoon of “Dark Fruit” burbles with fluid synth currents as Christian Church and Spooky Bubble swap vocals, his a deep Dave Gahan drone, hers inhabiting a more florid Kate Bush-inspired upper register. The recorded version on this year’s long-playing Spring I’m In makes “Dark Fruit” darker and more brooding with a near hymnal quality (especially in the crystal-clear production on Bubble’s vocals). Live, the spectral qualities become more organic and bodily, murkier but fuller-sounding. It’s this sort of free-spirited resistance to definition that has made Alligator Indian such a captivating and confounding contributor to the regional music scene. Surely Bob Moog would approve.

AHA AVL presents Alligator Indian from Shuffle Magazine on Vimeo.