General Ratings:
Music: 6
Lyrics: 5
Scope: 4
Consistency: 6
RIYL: Camera Obscura, The Concretes, Figure 8 era Elliott Smith
Further Listening: The Sarah Records Catalogue, Pelle Carlberg, The Dimes
Place of Origin: Champaign, IL
Instrument/Sounds List: Electric guitar, keyboard/organ, bass, drums, glockenspiel, male/female vocals, acoustic guitar, background strings and horns, singing saw, accordion, hand claps, tambourine, jingle bells.
Mood Tones:
Season: Spring
Weather: Sunny
Time of Day: Late Afternoon
Song Highlights: Cherry Tulips, On April 2, Get Your Head Around It
Favorite Lyrics:
"The window sills, they frame your view /
And your friends have their opinions too, /
I'm sure they'll pass them on to you /
For good measure." (from On April 2)
"The salt on your cheek /
Is just like the sea /
But not as deep." (from Catch Them All)
"Those soft little tunes you sung, /
Come back sometimes in your native tongue. /
September came around again, /
A year older at Summer's end." (from January)
Other Thoughts:
What exactly does the adjective "sunny" mean when applied to pop music? For starters, probably clean production, especially when it comes to guitar and vocal filters. If your singer is a man, hopefully he's a tenor, if she's a woman, hopefully she's an alto, and you get bonus points if you've got one of each. A Keyboard or two won't hurt, provided that we can get specific about them being of light tonality (e.g. the addition of Farfisa or Wurlitzer to a song does nothing to lighten its tone), let's say a Hammond or a Casiotone (with an appropriate setting of course). The drums should probably keep simple, marching beats and the bass should be played more up tempo, preferably on the smaller strings. The melodies must be kept in major keys and hopefully come with harmonies on fifth notes. Throw in some hand claps, tambourine and glockenspiel to round out the effort, et voila, "sunny" is what you have.
And don't be surprised if what you've put together at home sounds a lot like Headlights, as all of the descriptors above apply. Probing a bit deeper, there's an interesting undercurrent of surf music, most notable when an appropriately pedaled guitar shares the melody with the keyboard, and the backing vocals are processed with an echo chamber-like effect. They seem to be well aware of this, and often pair the aforementioned effect with references to water (cf. in the choruses to Cherry Tulips ("I want the sea") and Catch Them All ("Don't swim in that water tonight")). But this is an undertone, and only one of the tricks in their production bag, which also boasts excellent interplay between Erin Fein and Tristan Wraight, the band's two vocalists, the use of glockenspiel as an actual carrier of melody (instead of as an accent or part of a backdrop), pitch-shifting violin and (from what I can tell) singing saw.
It also bears noting, in the interest of full disclosure, that there are a handful of moments on this record that buck the general trend. The most noteworthy among these being the last song, January, which is the only truly melancholy piece in the entire album. The title track is perhaps too slow and quiet to be considered summer-like, and the opener "Get Your Head Around It" eventually builds itself into the aforementioned mold, starting originally in a minor key with a simple guitar line. These exceptions aside, my suggestion to the more Seasonally Affected among us is this: put Some Racing, Some Stopping in between Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out of This Country and Saturday Looks Good To Me's All Your Summer Songs in the CD changer and think your way to May.
The Downside:
Music this easy to enjoy often can feel syrupy when taken in too large a dose, and while the album only plays for a little over half an hour, I wouldn't advise listening to it multiple times on end. The simplicity that begets the music's catchiness also extends to the lyrics, which while never embarassing, don't offer much to close reading. Tristan Wraight, the male vocalist, sounds an awful lot like a young Elliott Smith, meaning his voice will evoke nostalgia to those weaned on XO and Figure 8, and probably sound a bit thin to those who weren't.
Music: 6
Lyrics: 5
Scope: 4
Consistency: 6
RIYL: Camera Obscura, The Concretes, Figure 8 era Elliott Smith
Further Listening: The Sarah Records Catalogue, Pelle Carlberg, The Dimes
Place of Origin: Champaign, IL
Instrument/Sounds List: Electric guitar, keyboard/organ, bass, drums, glockenspiel, male/female vocals, acoustic guitar, background strings and horns, singing saw, accordion, hand claps, tambourine, jingle bells.
Mood Tones:
Season: Spring
Weather: Sunny
Time of Day: Late Afternoon
Song Highlights: Cherry Tulips, On April 2, Get Your Head Around It
Favorite Lyrics:
"The window sills, they frame your view /
And your friends have their opinions too, /
I'm sure they'll pass them on to you /
For good measure." (from On April 2)
"The salt on your cheek /
Is just like the sea /
But not as deep." (from Catch Them All)
"Those soft little tunes you sung, /
Come back sometimes in your native tongue. /
September came around again, /
A year older at Summer's end." (from January)
Other Thoughts:
What exactly does the adjective "sunny" mean when applied to pop music? For starters, probably clean production, especially when it comes to guitar and vocal filters. If your singer is a man, hopefully he's a tenor, if she's a woman, hopefully she's an alto, and you get bonus points if you've got one of each. A Keyboard or two won't hurt, provided that we can get specific about them being of light tonality (e.g. the addition of Farfisa or Wurlitzer to a song does nothing to lighten its tone), let's say a Hammond or a Casiotone (with an appropriate setting of course). The drums should probably keep simple, marching beats and the bass should be played more up tempo, preferably on the smaller strings. The melodies must be kept in major keys and hopefully come with harmonies on fifth notes. Throw in some hand claps, tambourine and glockenspiel to round out the effort, et voila, "sunny" is what you have.
And don't be surprised if what you've put together at home sounds a lot like Headlights, as all of the descriptors above apply. Probing a bit deeper, there's an interesting undercurrent of surf music, most notable when an appropriately pedaled guitar shares the melody with the keyboard, and the backing vocals are processed with an echo chamber-like effect. They seem to be well aware of this, and often pair the aforementioned effect with references to water (cf. in the choruses to Cherry Tulips ("I want the sea") and Catch Them All ("Don't swim in that water tonight")). But this is an undertone, and only one of the tricks in their production bag, which also boasts excellent interplay between Erin Fein and Tristan Wraight, the band's two vocalists, the use of glockenspiel as an actual carrier of melody (instead of as an accent or part of a backdrop), pitch-shifting violin and (from what I can tell) singing saw.
It also bears noting, in the interest of full disclosure, that there are a handful of moments on this record that buck the general trend. The most noteworthy among these being the last song, January, which is the only truly melancholy piece in the entire album. The title track is perhaps too slow and quiet to be considered summer-like, and the opener "Get Your Head Around It" eventually builds itself into the aforementioned mold, starting originally in a minor key with a simple guitar line. These exceptions aside, my suggestion to the more Seasonally Affected among us is this: put Some Racing, Some Stopping in between Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out of This Country and Saturday Looks Good To Me's All Your Summer Songs in the CD changer and think your way to May.
The Downside:
Music this easy to enjoy often can feel syrupy when taken in too large a dose, and while the album only plays for a little over half an hour, I wouldn't advise listening to it multiple times on end. The simplicity that begets the music's catchiness also extends to the lyrics, which while never embarassing, don't offer much to close reading. Tristan Wraight, the male vocalist, sounds an awful lot like a young Elliott Smith, meaning his voice will evoke nostalgia to those weaned on XO and Figure 8, and probably sound a bit thin to those who weren't.
2 comments:
RE a conversation a long time ago, it's "School Boys" that I was saying sounds initially exactly like a Cranberries song ("Do do do, do do do, ah"). Then there's the rather Arcade Fire-ish xylophone (keyboard?) fill.
Yeah, I could see that.
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