This is my message to Young Beautiful In a Hurry–”please come and play in Cleveland. I’m stuck on you.” Every few days I sit down with the newest band or singer in my inbox and I think about the last one. I think, “there’s no way I will ever love again”. Then with a few clicks, I am falling all over myself. The world is so full of wonderful music. I am a sucker for well balanced pop-rock sounds, especially when they have a nice mix of psychedelic electric sounds happening and great lyrics. The last band of this type that fell into my lap was Mosey West whose Bermuda album is still on repeat in my car. This foursome from LA joins their ranks. Frontman Brendan McCreary’s voice and guitar have been heard in places like Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, he’s toured internationally and played with a few different bands of diverse and accomplished musicians. This project is my favorite. I am sold on the glamourous, trippy, smokey, electric quality of this album.
I was actually completely hooked in the first ten seconds. The energy of the opening notes of this album immediately made me want unplug the headphones, turn up the volume, and share with the neighbors. I live in an apartment building full of middle-aged, single men–if anyone needs energy this infectious, it is probably them, and me, and everyone else. “Stuck on a girl without love, without mercy. Stuck all alone in the heart of the city.” I wish that someone had written this song about me. McCreary’s voice has a wonderful, classic, 1970’s rock-and-roll quality to it that is oh so sexy. Plus–is that the ocean I hear in the background?
As much as I love the sweet, organic, orchestral qualities of the bluegrassy, folky music which I keep on my phone–I am a sucker for some nice, synthetic sounds. Not the dance pop bologna that they play on the radio, but the first bars of “Oh! Future”. This song includes great exclamations like “hey!” “oh” “HA!”, lots of groovy electronic noises, and the phrase “if we ever survive the weekend”. It is definitely the most fun, energetic ode to the unpredictability of the future I have ever heard.
“Hot Mess”. This song probably is about me. Not really, it is about a really dramatic girl who causes a lot of problems for herself and the people around her. I am a completely different kind of hot mess (the kind with temporary My Little Pony tattoos peeling off her knees). I love this song, though. It is so fun, so rock and roll. It is fresh, but a little old school. I love McCreary’s voice, I love the subtle harmonies, I love the shouting, and the groovy guitar riffs.
“Royalty” begins with clapping. There have been very few songs which begin with clapping that I have not liked. “I’ve got a skip in my step cause I’m a know it all. It’s well after midnight and I ain’t going home. Pretty as a princess, far away you roam. If you ever need me, I can take you home. We are royalty. We are royalty.” This song has so much going on–all wonderful things. Stories are winding together, but not tripping over each other. It’s magic. This is the new anthem for washing dishes in my house.
If you used to like the dance pop that is on the radio and are trying to find something that is high quality and high energy–you will love these gentlemen. If you have sneered at radio dance pop since day one, you’re in luck because these gentlemen are definitely not radio dance pop. They are something so much more beautiful, so fresh, so classic. The quality of this music is spot on. As soon as I figure out how to run itunes on my Linux computer, I will buy this album to play for everyone who sits in my car (along with Mosey West, of course). You should too. Everyone at the red lights will be asking you to roll down your windows to share your jam with the rest of the world. If you live in LA, you should go see them live because I bet they play a killer show. They’re playing two free shows in the near future, one in Silverlake and one in North Hollywood. If you’re close, don’t miss it.
