Tag Archives: Vanity Mirror

Spin the big wheel

16 Sunday Nov 2025

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

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There are so many great acts and accompanying singles, EPs, and albums coming at me I really can’t keep up. So today we play catch up and throw in a word or two about a host of great releases I’ve been sitting on. You can just spin the big wheel and drop in anywhere.

Indianapolis fuzz pop outfit Wishy are pushing the faders into the red all over their Planet Popstar EP. Opening cuts “Fly” and “Planet Popstar” offer up a bevy of distorted guitar hooks and vocals. “Over and Over” then cleans up the sound in a Sugar Ray sort of way. The EP shifts back and forth between a fuzzy and more pristine dreamy demeanor. LA band Momma also do dreamy but with a more conventional rock and roll backing on Welcome to My Blue Sky. Surefire single “Rodeo” launches with a killer lead guitar hook only to soften things up with a smooth, seductive vocal. “New Friend” is more soft, lilting acoustic guitar pop. Turning on Amazing Space’s recent album Parallel Dreams you’d be hard pressed to guess they’re from Bergen, Norway. They’ve really got the Americana sound down. The title track “Parallel Dreams” could be the Eagles. But other tracks diverge a bit from this formula. “Surrounded by the Absence” has great new wave-ish keyboards while “Go Easy On Me” vibes a dream-wash sibilance reminding me of fellow Swede The School Book Depository. Regina, Saskatchewan’s Christopher Sleightholm celebrates all things sunny and laid back on Still Summer. The style is 1960s reinvention with layers of jangle, pedal steel and Beatlesque melodic turns. “Summer Eyes” is so jangliciously Byrds. “Peppermint Fields” tips things toward the Bryds’ country turn. There’s also some serious instrumental guitar work here on tracks like “Hoppin’ Thru The Bog in Fog” and “Coyote at the Trailhead.”

It’s tough when a member of band becomes hugely popular and for something that has nothing to do with music. But that is the story of Post Animal when Stranger Things actor Joe Keery left the group in 2017. After a few albums apart Keery is now back with the band for a new album entitled Iron. The sound is very contemporary indie rock: sleek, intimate and subtley hooky. Obvious LP single is the singalong-ish “The Last Goodbye.” On Scarecrow II The Telephone Numbers dial up some serious jangle pretty consistently over the course of the LP. Standout jangling can be found on “Pulling Punchlines” with its propulsive wall-of-guitars sound and Grapes of Wrath vocals. “Goodbye Rock and Roll” is another standout. Taking things up to 11 for a moment Melvic Centre let a strong guitar grind wallpaper their album Trawler. But offsetting that are some great vocal harmonies. “First to Know” showcases how brilliantly these seemingly dissonant qualities can come together. While much of the album shades toward punk “Late Riser” and “Muddy Mae Suggins” unleash some serious melodic hooks. For me, Lawn’s new record God Made the Highway really takes off at track 3 with “Davie” and its ringing lead guitar work. “Barroom Wonder” is another lead guitar workout, deliciously drawing you in.

New Massage LP Coaster is a wildly inventive time-trip through an 1980s ambience that doesn’t sound in any way derivative. “No North Star” is Madchester jangly while “Daffy Duck” has a distinct New Order-ish vibe. “Without Your Love” has the period’s guitar tone down pat. Basically, the whole record envelopes you like a favourite fuzzy sweater. Durham UK’s Fortitude Valley have dropped some serious stylistic intensity into their recent Part of the Problem, Baby release. The guitar attack and pacing is relentless while the vocals ride over the musical drone with a distinctive air. Sometimes things are poppy, as on “Video (Right There With You).” Sometimes they are dissonant, like on “Totally.” Solid should-be hit single is “Sunshine State.” Nashville’s The Medium go all in for the team on their EP Sports! The atmosphere here is very Todd Rundgren meets 10cc, a 1970s compressed pop sound, particularly on “Feel the Dream” and “We’ve Got a Winner.” “Gimme Some Gas” is more a seventies rock and roll romp. Then “Me and My Glove” could be Harry Nilsson. Ottawa’s fanclubwallet shift the mood again to something more intimate and conversational on Living While Dying. This vibe is more contemporary, with compressed keyboard and hushed vocals. I love the hypnotic keyboard drone driving “Head On” forward. Then there’s the lush pop sound of “Do Over” with its otherworldly theremin solo. “New Distraction” sounds like the radio-ready song.

Get ready for some ripping reverb when you spin The Berries self-titled long-player The Berries. This is a guitar album, with fabulous nuanced amplifier tones all over its 10 tracks. Just check out the gorgeous spaciousness of the languid lead guitar guiding “Angelus.” Or there’s the striking back and forth between the guitar and vocals defining “Salt of the Earth.” I love the rippling Blue Oyster Cult-like lead guitar lines on “Lie in the Fire Again.” Toronto’s Vanity Mirror infuse a late 1960s psychedelic pop spirit over a lot of the tracks populating their Super Fluff Forever LP. It’s there strongly on “White Butterfly” while “Jack of All Trades” hits the Velvet Underground groove hard. But others lean into whimsy and piano. Or there’s “I Don’t Want to Hold Your Hand,” a brilliant inversion of Merseybeat sentiments. Sweet Nobody strike a more cinematic pose on Driving Off to Nowhere. The mood here is decisively moody, the vibe all indirect lighting and overflowing ennui. It’s there from the stark opening of “I Don’t Know When I’ll See You Again.” Mixing things up, a rippling guitar lead line gives “Revenge” a pulse-racing feel. “Home Sweet Hell” leans into a dark country vein. “Could You Be the One” sounds hit single-ish to me. Maura Weaver’s second solo album Strange Devotion is a collection of constant surprises. Each song is a carefully crafted sonic illustration, balancing both harmony and dissonance. “Cool Imagination” is the kind of song you instantly want to sing along with. “Do Nothing” is a brilliant example of alluring melodic minimalism. Meanwhile you also have tracks like “Breakfast” that go in a country direction.

I’ve spun the wheel on these fabulous albums, showcasing a few great tunes. But why take my word for it? Dig into the deep cuts on these LPs for yourself by hitting the hotlinks to the full album experience on bandcamp.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Around the dial: Kevin Bowe and the Okemah Prophets, Dolour, Vanity Mirror, and The Midnight Callers

03 Monday Jul 2023

Posted by in Around the Dial

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Turning the radio dial used to be hard work sometimes if you wanted to find that perfect song. But this station has got your hooks if melody-driven rock is what you favour.

Minneapolis native Kevin Bowe has run with some pretty impressive company over the years, working with the likes of The Replacements, Wilco, Freedy Johnston, and many others. His early solo records were often compared to them, filed loosely under a broadly defined ‘Americana’ label. But listening to his new album Half Past Never Bowe shifts into a more commercial 1980s poprock lane I’d compare to work from Rob Fetters, Michael Slawter and Bill Lloyd. Just listen to the magic hit-single worthy melange of sound that is “California Sober.” The sparkling electric guitar lines buffet a smooth vocal melodic hook that just keeps on giving. Then “Put Me Out of Your Misery” eases in slow and easy, only to turn on magnetic hooks in the chorus. The Americana roots are still there, evident with the unmistakeable Tom Petty strut defining “Only Child” and the touching country ballad “Another Word for God.” And there are few stylistic departures, like the dreamy, achingly beautiful great American songbook-ish “I Hate Falling in Love.” But on the whole this record further develops the poppier sound Bowe experimented with on 2018’s Every Part of the Buffalo. Tracks like “Half Past Never,” “If I Was You” and “Hurt Me Beautiful” are straight-up melodic rock and roll of the first order. With Half Past Never Kevin Bowe and the Okemah Prophets have got a winner, a record that turns killer choruses into a kick-up your heels good time.

Dolour‘s Shane Tutmarc is a master of many musical styles but on his new EP Everything I Need they cohere into a distinctive sound. And that’s impressive because the five songs included here range from ear-wormy AM radio singles, to light and sunny pop, to synth-driven hook-traps, to country-tinged poprock. Title track “Everything I Need” kicks things off and sets the tone for the EP. The song begins with some edgy rhythm guitar but quickly morphs into a smooth AM radio-sounding hit. Then “Have I Finally Gone Insane” offers up a delightful dollop of updated sunshine pop. It’s got the light pop cadence of an early seventies Sedaka with McCartney in the producer’s chair. “When the World Stops Ending” has an attention-grabbing opening synth that just keeps returning to reel you in to a song with a Naked Eyes mellifluous melody. Things go a bit pop soul on “Moves Like Miyagi” in a very in Hall and Oates way, though Phil Thornalley has also been working this seam more recently. Album closer “The Comeback Kid” sounds like a super-charged Cactus Blossoms. The tune is pure poprock but the vocals give it a country tinge. In an interview with Sweet Sweet Music Blog Tutmarc tells us Everything I Need is really just half of a new album coming out later this year. I guess that means I don’t quite have everything I need yet.

The Electric Looking Glass members have a new project that takes their retro vibes in a slightly different direction. Basically, if their old band was Haight Ashbury then the new Vanity Mirror is more swinging London. On their debut record Puff the musical atmosphere shifts between late sixties Kinks and Moodies to early seventies solo McCartney and Emitt Rhodes. Opening cut “(I First Saw You There on) Tinpot Lane” sounds like something released on the sixties era Pye records. The keyboards and electric guitar have a brilliant brittleness while the vocals ooze baroque ambience. By contrast, early single “Tuesday News” is more Badfinger at Abbey Road. I hear Ray Davies listening to “Girl Feeding a Swan,” a whole lot of early solo McCartney on “Somehow You Know,” and a definite 1970s Lennon feel infusing “Look at the Clouds.” Meanwhile “Talking Walkie-Talkie Rice Krispies Blues” hits all the psych pop marks. Not everything here is time tripping though. “Dandelion Wish” could easily fit onto any recent Mo Troper album. Vanity Mirror look and sound like a yesterday you can still love today.

The 1970s had more than few over-the-top rock and roll moments where rough lead guitar riffs combined with a show tunes-like vocal precision. You can hear it from Alice Cooper in his poppier moments, Queen and Meatloaf obviously, and ELO when you wanted to meld classical and rock elements. But beneath it all were just great, feel-good rock songs. The Midnight Callers ace this challenging formula on their new LP Rattled Humming Heart. There are so many strong songs here but I’m going to point you right to the should-be monster hit single. “Girl on the Run” is a majestic rush of classic rock hooks right out of the Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen playbook. The jangly lead guitar runs bristle with pent up energy, the rhythm section shifts between strutting and breaking wide open, while the vocals alternate tenderness with desperation. Really, I’ve worn out the replay button on this one. Another track ringing the hit singles bell is “Baby Let Me Be.” What a perfect balance between deep rock guitar riffing and a heavenly vocal arrangement. “What Goes Around” does something similar, though here the blasting guitar chords and lead lines are disciplined by a wall of harmony vocals. 1970s musical shout outs are all over this record: a glam rock groove defining “New York Tramp,” some Thin Lizzy on “Step,” an echo of Queen or ELO on “Without Ya,” and even an updated early Beatles vibe on “The Plan.” And then “Maggie” changes things up with a more poppy acoustic ballad. Good thing it’s summer because Rattled Humming Heart really should be your go-to party record.

Girl on the Run

Radio may not be the heart of rock and roll anymore but here the should-be hits just keep on coming. Follow the links above to dive deeper into these recommended playlist additions.

Photo courtesy of Joe Haupt Flikr collection.