Psychedelic indie act Amazing Baby has been in existence for less than two years. In that time, they’ve signed a record deal, filmed a video with naked hipster babes, rode a giant wave of blog hype, and partied with Bill Murray, who saw one of their shows and recruited them to help him find the fountain of youth.

Savoir Adore, meanwhile, arrived on the scene with just as much talent but far less razzle-dazzle. Though, like Amazing Baby, they hail from that mecca of artsy privilege, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, their irrepressibly giddy, pure pop tunes haven’t set the buzz machine in motion for some reason. While plenty of folks have fallen for their album In the Wooded Forest, the Fader profiles, groupies, and movie star camaraderie have been slow in coming.

Both groups have benefited from ties to MGMT, the psych-rock outfit that found worldwide success last year. Savoir Adore signed with Cantora, the indie label that released MGMT’s 2005 Time to Pretend EP, while Amazing Baby’s guitarist Simon O’Connor palled around with MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser at Wesleyan College, itself something of an indie music farm system.

O’Connor and Amazing Baby’s other founding member, lead singer Will Roan, met each other after their college bands were booked together for a New York show. “I think I was hooking up with the same girl at the same time as someone in Simon’s band,” says Roan, adding that he’s fairly certain it wasn’t O’Connor.

They played a number of shows together, and after O’Connor graduated, he moved into a pad in Brooklyn, where Roan would crash whenever he came down for the weekend during his final year at Bard College. The pair began collaborating on various band projects and later worked together in a music distribution office, where their duties included crafting ringtones. In 2008, they formed Amazing Baby, focusing on a studio-centric sound that included layer upon layer of percussion, guitar, and keyboards. Their live shows, meanwhile, featured as many as 10 people on stage at a time, and early praise for the group was swift and unequivocal. “I think people liked the spectacle of this crazy band,” Roan says. Eventually, the lineup was rounded out with bassist Don Devore, guitarist Rob Laakso, and drummer Matt Abeysekera.

After releasing an EP called Infinite Fucking Cross last summer, they were pursued by a number of labels and ultimately signed with Shangri-La, who put out their full-length debut, Rewild, in June. Many of the reviews focused on the album’s seemingly hallucinogenic-powered prog, psych, and goth rock, as well as the group’s hipster aesthetic. Some of this had to do with their video for Rewild track “Headdress”, which featured topless girls, wearing paint and capes, prancing around in the woods.

Then there was the encounter with Bill Murray, who dropped in on their 2008 Halloween show wearing a rubber mask with black glasses. He and Roan hung out all night long, attending a house party, smoking cigarettes on a roof, and drinking bourbon on a friend’s couch. Notes Roan: “It’s one of the few stories I can tell where my mom is jealous.”

Savoir Adore’s story is far less flashy. Principal members Paul Hammer and Deidre Muro met while students at NYU, where Hammer played in a group catering to “sorority girls,” he says. Both possessing musical backgrounds, they decided to play a show together and then later conceived an album almost spontaneously. While on a train ride to visit Hammer’s parents at their home in a bucolic section of Holmes, New York, Hammer and Muro brainstormed the plot for what would become their first EP, The Adventures of Mr. Pumpernickel and the Girl with Animals in Her Throat. A concept record focusing on a professor and his meetings with a troubled student and a fairy who lives among the trees, it showcased the pair’s great talents for collaboration. Taking turns on vocals and instruments, they introduced the harmony-heavy, ever-sincere fantasy pop that would become their signature sound.

They return regularly to Holmes, where Hammer’s father Jan—a jazz and rock keyboardist who was enormously popular in the ’70s and ’80s and crafted the Miami Vice theme song—has a studio. Savoir Adore recorded In the Wooded Forest there, trading off on guitar, drums, and bass for hours at Hammer’s studio, which actually is ensconced in the middle of a wooded forest. While successfully employing a sound that suits their strengths, the full-length lacks a unified storyline like their EP, but boasts more fleshed-out tracks. At times, the preciousness can be a bit overwhelming, but songs on the album like “MERP” and “Early Bird” are as euphoric and hummable as anything to come out of Williamsburg this past year.

Their work seems not to contain an ounce of pretension. Savoir Adore certainly isn’t trying to impress anyone with their cool, and their seeming lack of self-consciousness is responsible for much of their appeal.

Amazing Baby also developed much of their music during long jam sessions. While employed at the music distribution company, they spent their evenings making music until the wee hours, allowing themselves only as much sleep as was absolutely necessary. Their goals were somewhat different from Savoir Adore’s, however. Roan told Spin that they were “desperate to convey a feeling of ecstasy.” Indeed, almost every one of their tracks is epic, or at least strives to be epic. While they often succeed in this regard—songs like “Kankra” and “Pump Your Brakes” are full, bombastic, and satisfying—it often feels like they’re breaking off more than they can chew. Much of Rewild lags, bogged down by excessive instrumental wankery and semi-pretentious lyrics that are difficult to wrap one’s mind around. (“We are starving cannibals / She protects her animals,” from “Smoke Bros”, has been particularly derided.)

With only one album each to judge them on, one could make a pretty good case that both Amazing Baby and Savoir Adore have the potential for long, gratifying careers. For the time being, however, the latter act’s less pretentious way of conducting business has led to a more satisfying catalog.

Listen: Amazing Baby, Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

Listen: Savoir Adore, Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

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