2007_11_01_archive

THIS WEEK'S FINDS

Nov. 4-10

"The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing" - I Am Bones

So this is a band with a sense of humor, which can be a mixed blessing

in rock'n'roll, where a conscious effort to appear "funny" often

crosses the line into "hm, maybe not funny." The best way to stay on

the good side of the line is, first of all, for the humor to seem

self-effacing rather than obnoxious and, second (and more important),

for the music itself to be delightful. The Danish quartet I Am

Bones--whose first, self-released CD had the Firesign Theater-esque

title of If You Really Love Me, Send Me More Medical Supplies--appears

to satisfy on both counts with this splendid slice of slightly skewed,

smile-inducing power pop. Listen, instantly, to the harmonies employed

right out of the gate, which utilize elastic intervals that I can't

discern, delivered over a twitchy guitar rhythm. The off-kilter flavor

of the verse, pleasing on its own, further serves to make the

straight-ahead I-IV-V brilliance of the chorus all the more

appetizing. Here, front man Johannes Gammelby's voice takes on an

unexpected depth, as the bottom-heavy drive of the music combines with

the upward-leaning melody to lend him something of Jeff Lynne's

congenial vocal power. One final key to success is succinctness: the

song lasts barely longer than the title; we hear the chorus but twice,

as the entire last minute of a not-very-long-anyway song is a

guitar-driven instrumental coda. "The Main Thing..." is from the new I

Am Bones CD, The Greater Good, the band's second for the

English-speaking Danish label Morningside Records, released last month

in Europe. The MP3 is via Morningside.

"Subtle Changes" - Sambassadeur

We're staying in Scandanavia for no particular reason except that this

next wonderful song sounds great after our first wonderful song.

Sambassadeur is a quartet from Gothenburg, Sweden whose previously

stripped-down vibe (in the past, their recordings were done at home)

has been fetchingly boosted by echoey strings, atmospheric percussion,

a grand, chugging rhythm and, later on, a honking sax solo. Anna

Persson, once a casual, somewhat deadpan vocalist--singing in short,

talky phrases, and sounding as if she could not sing and smile at the

same time--here emerges with a richer tone, partly because of the

production but partly also because she's not afraid to hold her notes,

to fully sing. She may not yet be smiling but she's loosened up her

facial muscles and in so doing shifted away from irony and towards

passion, which engenders I think much more than a subtle change in the

band's sound. What they retain, however, is a nimble way with melody;

listen in particular to the chorus and how beautifully the melody

extends beyond the confines of a typical four-measure pop chorus--the

melodic line here is actually nine measures long, which is unusual,

seemingly one measure too long, and it leaves us vaguely unresolved

musically, too, until the chorus repeats a second time and then hooks

back into the opening chord of the verse section (compare the

unfinished feeling from 1:43 through 1:46 to the resolution at 1:47).

"Subtle Changes" is from Migration, Sambassadeur's first studio album,

released last month, in Europe, on Labrador Records. MP3 via Labrador.

"Tree" - Hopewell

It's really hard, I think, to start a pop song this slowly; and to do

so with a high-pitched, slightly nasally tenor such as Jason Russo's

front and center is even harder. But his voice is not, at first, what

anchors the ear here. The piano, instead, commands attention, with its

simple, firm, plaintive chords. Four times the chords shift during

this slow opening, and notice how, with each chord shift, Russo

nevertheless comes back to settle on the same melodic note; Tyson

Lewis's uncluttered, shifting chords create such a strong, if

bittersweet, feeling that they trick the ear into thinking the melody

is moving more than it is. When the band kicks in at 0:34, the small,

careful instrumental flourishes put me in the mind of an old Band

song, which the central, doleful melody reinforces, not to mention

Russo's intermittent resemblance to Rick Danko. While the opening

progression remains at the center of this almost inexplicably

captivating song, varied textures arise along the way, building

towards a louder, fuller-bodied conclusion, complete with deep

rumblings underneath and an almost orchestrated feel to the band's

playing. Hopewell is not from Scandanavia; Poughkeepsie, New York is