Print Edition: March 6, 2013
Shake Some Action!
Full Fathom Five
Fuelled by melodic hooks, steady beats and rich harmonies, Full Fathom Five, the latest release by the Seattle-based Shake Some Action! is a raw and high-energy set of guitar-oriented power pop. Australian lead singer James Hall, who plays every instrument on the album, channels Oasis front man Noel Gallagher’s look-at-me attitude and remains content to stick to three or four chord songs, stealing from all the right songs that have been banged out since the Mersey Sound era of the 1960s. “Nothing Can Stop Me Now” has the “Ooh la la” backing vocals you’d expect during a Scooby-Doo chase montage, while “I Don’t Know What To Say” evokes the early material of the Liverpool songwriting duo of Lennon and McCartney. Not shy about celebrating their influences, their name being a direct reference to a classic Flamin’ Groovies track, Hall demonstrates harmonies and jangly guitars reminiscent of both the Merseybeats and The Beatles. He writes pop tunes in that classic style that create the illusion that they have always existed and always will, which often makes it difficult to identify what separates Full Fathom Five’s great tracks from its mediocre ones, because both exist here.
Adam Green & Binki Shapiro
Adam Green & Binki Shapiro
Duet albums at best break from the song single direction of pleading, lamenting and imagining possibilities to conversations, narratives in the making through variations in structure or verse-chorus rules broken altogether. Adam Green and Binki Shapiro take on the roles of Nancy and Lee (the alignment with this precursor is unmissable, but it’s a fine standard to imitate), improving on The Moldy Peaches or matching the highs of Little Joy, their previous partnered recordings in their separate careers. Harmonizing, co-written, the under-half hour of their self-titled album is only minorly composed of call-and-response, choosing instead singing alongside or alone – though the songs where difference comes out are full of distance, (“Pleasantries,” “What’s the Reward”) even then there’s more to point toward both being on the same page. There is no crowding for space – if anything the album can seem underwritten or unvaried at times. However, what’s valued here is space between words, musical breaks, before the return to a couplet that, underscored by acoustics and soft backbeats and swelling strings and bells, balances earnestness, wary optimism and unfooled clarity; there isn’t a single track that ends in ideals here, only the impossible reversal of farewells and fades of repetition.
Matt and Kim
Lightning
Quirky indie couple Matt and Kim’s fourth full-length album Lightning, was written and recorded in their apartment on Grand St (Brooklyn). An unapologetic power pop infusion, their sound is a clap-along styled electro-indie dance party. Matt Johnson’s unique vocals, awkward syllable emphasis and preppy keyboarding make for an odd, yet enjoyable listening experience. Kim Schifino’s drumming provides the attitude and the punk, on top of her additional back-up vocals. Together they create the overall fist-pumping, waves of euphoria and confusion-sprinkled experience that is a Matt and Kim record. This particular album features tempo changes between songs that don’t always hit the mark, but as with any “do-it-yourself” band, Matt and Kim are still growing as artists. Tracks like “I Said” and “Much Too Late” muddle themselves in to a ball of saturated electro-pop-punk that strays away from the crisp and “stuck in your head for months” synth riffs found in the first half of the album (“Let’s Go” and “It’s Alright”). Matt and Kim still have an evolving career ahead of them. The unevenness found in Lightning is merely a personal touch, another refreshing quality of this couple.
Local Natives
Hummingbird
Unsure of what to expect with Hummingbird, and a huge fan of their debut release Gorilla Manor, I put off jumping into this album. When they broke out in 2010, the music was not only fresh and innovative, it was also enchanting and transcendent with lead singer, Kalcey Ayer, floating his voice along the psychedelic indie rock instrumentals while waiting until the rising harmonies join in. Finally after taking the plunge into Hummingbird, it’s safe to say that a lot of what was great with the first album carries over. There are some elements that are missing, though. Found here is a band that’s grown past their youthful touches they once introduced. And while I would have appreciated some of that to continue, it’s understandable that they’ve progressed. In the end this is an excellent album, and while listening to it late at night, I can’t help but feel that this is the perfect time to really experience the tracks rush over you. Some of the notable songs include “Mt. Washington,” where the lyrics opt for simplicity and the hook has an incredible drive. Perhaps the personal favourite, though, is where Ayer rises to some beautifully high notes in “Three Months.”
