Today’s breaking news is a bit off the poprock beaten track. All the artists have something somewhat mysterious and unique going on. They want your attention but they’re gonna get it on their own terms.
Kayleigh Watson from UK indie music site The Line of Best Fit had the best description of San Francisco’s The Reds, Pinks & Purples: ‘depresso pop’. On Uncommon Weather, the band’s first long-player, these guys are so down they make Morrissey look up to me. Seriously, the style is a lofi, almost shoegazey take on The Smiths, though without being derivative. Not that this record is a total downer or anything. In fact, opening track “Don’t Ever Pray in the Church in my Street” has a great bouncy lead guitar line, almost drone-like, that could certainly get the dance floor bopping. At the other times, the band channels other indie lowkey jangle outfits like The Catherines on songs like “I Hope I Never Fall in Love.” Of course, song titles like “A Kick in the Face (That’s Life)” and “The Biggest Fan” certainly give the Mopester a run for his money. Meanwhile “The Record Player and the Damage Done” is a deceptively jaunty journey into vinyl ennui. Overall, this record is a state of mind, a mood. If you’re a bit out of sorts, feeling out of phase, Uncommon Weather will soothe your troubled mind. Turn it on and let the reverb take you away.
Hailing from Denton, Texas, population just 150,000, Fishboy sound instead like a sophisticated big city concept outfit, with recordings that vibe a pretty hip off-Broadway musical style. Exhibit A: their brand new concept album, the mock-holiday dedicated Waitsgiving. You could be forgiven for thinking that this album is some brilliant mediation on our current pandemic situation but actually the whole thing is just an unrelated flash of brilliance, another installment of the band’s bent for ‘intricately plotted’ story albums. Now there’s a story threaded through these songs here but there’s also just great songs. So listen to the whole thing for a fun show or just tune in to specific songs for some hooky tunes. Personally I love opening track “The First Waitsgiving (Waitsgiving Founder)” with its show tune feel and melodic hints of Fun and Weezer layered in here and there. Or early video “Greatness Waitress” charges along with a staccato tempo that is all caged melodic energy. And then there’s the alternative universe hit single, “The Last Waitsgiving,” a song that pays repeated listening to firmly get under your skin. Looking for something a bit more ambitious than just a collection of hummable songs? Fishboy have your album right here.
Athens Georgia’s Lo Talker have been described as folk rock and psychedelic but the harmonies and dreamy guitars remind me more of bands like Fleet Foxes and Blitzen Trapper (in acoustic mode). The band’s debut album A Comedy of Errors has a sparse but lush attack, the overall sound tends to sneak in place, adding sonic layers and unusual elements but never crowding the songs. The formula is all there on opening track “Heaven in Drag,” a musical mélange sealed with an alluringly emotive vocal. Sometimes the sound is very poppy folk, as on “Nero in the News,” but at other times it’s just a lovely swirl of different melodic hues, a bit of keyboard, some driving acoustic guitar, as captured on “Astral Humming.” There are a few departures, like the upbeat pop swing animating “No Champagne” or even the hooky 1970s AM radio throwback style on “Automatic Love.” For a new band on their debut record, the result is strikingly coherent and established, like something they’ve been crafting for years.
I love Kevin Devine and I don’t care who knows it. I’d heard a few of the solo tunes over the years (“Bubblegum”; “She Can See Me”), I had those great Bad Books records, but it was his 2016 release Instigator was the revelation for me. I fell hard for his biting socio-political analysis and the tunes. Oh, those tunes! I was fortunate to see him play the album solo in a small club in Toronto and the performance was pure magic. Recalling his live rendering “I Was Alive Back Then” still gives me shivers. So news that Devine was hard at work on a new album got my attention. He’s been showcasing new material over this past year as he works out just how to present them and even released a few demo versions and some inspired covers to tide us over until the new record comes. You can hear them all on the very satisfying full-LP length Out in the Ether, split between five new songs and five covers. The covers are delightfully inspired reworkings of songs from indie darlings (Elliott Smith, The Strokes) and big name acts (Bruce Springsteen, Sam Cooke). But the main event here is clearly the new songs – and they’re sounding pretty damn good. “Go Haunt Someone Else” is a classic Devine pretty little tune, with nice background vocals. It works as an acoustic number but it will be interesting to hear if he expands the sonic palate on this one. On the whole the originals are wistful and longing in execution though “You’re My Incentive” hints at something that could be taken up in a more dramatic fashion, if that’s what Devine has in mind. So, overall impression: promising stuff from a guy who never disappoints.
I can’t get enough of classic poprock AM radio hits but I’m also partial to acts who bend the formula a bit, who press at the edges of convention, who push the audience to hear the familiar in a different way. The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Fishboy, Lo Talker, and Kevin Devine all defy the easy and obvious paths in songwriting and performance. Reward them with your attention.
We start big on this installment of Around the dial with Kevin Devine’s fantastic new album Instigator. Devine has a lot of material under his belt – eight albums not including this one – but his latest is by far his strongest, most accomplished piece of work. Others might be more partial to different periods in his career but for me it all comes together here: politics, unrelenting hooks, and more tender insights. The cover alone, of some 10 year old’s Christmas party wrestling match, is a major highlight. From the moment the chugging guitar opens up “No Why” the album never misses a beat. “Magic Magnet” is power pop heaven. “Daydrunk” is a sweet guitar drenched ode. “No One Says You Have To” is a lovely acoustic ballad. The title track “Instigator” says hit single to me, one part Fountains of Wayne, another part Weezer. But I save the most love for the touching, introspective “I Was Alive Back Then.” Imagine if Paul Simon sounded genuinely alienated and had gone through some serious angry periods – it might sound a bit like this. An outstanding performance of a song that leaves the singer bare.
The hippie vibe lives on as a kind of lifestyle esthetic and Brett Dennen could be its poster child. The influences here are all over the map: a bit of Van Morrison, just about any 1970s confessional singer songwriter, a dash of reggae at times. However on his fifth album, 2013’s Smoke and Mirrors, Dennen upped the pop quotient with tracks like the catchy “Out of My Head” and infinitely pleasant “Sweet Persuasion.” His most recent album Por Favor strips things back a bit without losing the hooky focus, particularly on tracks like “Bonfire.”
Sweet PersuasionBonfire
The Springsteen is definitely there in Brian Fallon’s solo album Painkillers but the influence is more atmospheric than direct. I love the guitar sounds on this record. The title track opens with a great rumbly electric that gives way to lush acoustic strumming while later “Among Other Foolish Things” features a distinctive opening guitar riff that repeats throughout the song. “Nobody Wins” typifies the easygoing rock and roll sound of the album, laid back but with subtle hooks. If this record is anything to go by, Fallon is really just getting started.Among Other Foolish ThingsNobody Wins
And now for something completely different. Rich Ajlouny and the Tractor Beams are a bit off the beaten poprock path, but only just. There is something definitely Beatlesque in Ajlouny’s slightly discordant vocals, reminiscent of “Nowhere Man.” You can really hear it on “Around the Town” from Ajlouny’s 2013 solo release but it is there in spades on the more recent Love is the Stronger Force, particularly “Tough Guys Don’t Dance.” There is also something very art rock about this band’s material and performance, as if some elements have been deliberately left out of focus. Other highlights include “Give Her a Kiss” with its super harmonica break and “When Plans Go South.” I also like the wonderfully quirky “Going Back to Work” with its stark admission that the protagonist is ‘going back to work after being such a jerk.’
Poprock Record 