Here’s an album that belongs to my every summer. It’s loud, it’s distorted, it sounds like Weezer and The Beach Boys at the same time.. Silver Sun’s self-titled debut (1997) made a huge impression when I found it in the summer of 2005 (if I remember correctly). Since then, I’ve returned to listen to the album countless times and my reaction has always been stunningly positive. I remember writing a personal review on this album some time ago. Expressions like “too good to be true” appeared there..
To me, these tracks are pure joy in musical form. Golden Skin, Dumb, Far Out, and Service are all amazing tunes, and the harmonies are really good. Yellow Light is really stunning with its melancholic and dreamy feel and great dynamics. That same dreamy feel actually keeps appearing on this album (e.g. 2 Digits), and I think it’s really good. I’d call Julia my favourite song, but there isn’t much difference in how much I love each of these tracks. The ultimate hit song is of course Lava, a wild pop-rocker with some interesting lyrics..
On this album, the lyrics are crazy, apparently mostly complete nonsense. To me, that is probably the best alternative, since I’m terrible in understanding songlyrics.. When there isn’t much to be analyzed, mostly just funny rhymes and stuff that doesn’t mean anything, you can focus completely on the melodies. On the other hand, these lyrics may contain some hidden meaning..
James Broad’s great lead vocals are bubblegummy and a bit geeky, I’d say. A very nice arrangement detail is the use of some sort of wind instruments in Julia and Far Out. I guess they are clarinets. They sound very good.
The album has 15 tracks, 14 of which are songs. Everything looks amazing during the first 11. I don’t know why, but for some reason I often end up thinking there is something wrong with the end part of the album. Songs like Wonderful, Bad Haircut and Nobody are not exactly Julia or Golden Skin, but they aren’t bad in any way either. It’s obviously just my brain working again.. Sometimes all it can remember of a good song is a small hint of doubt about whether a song was perfect or not.
What a summery distortion packet! It’s gorgeous, it’s melodic, it’s harmonic, it’s sentimental, and it will drive your mom crazy!Silver Sun Official Website
[While incessantly listening to The Cars, I surprisingly find myself being able to concentrate on some other music, too. Temporarily, that is…]Tim Boykin rocks. He knows what great bubblegummy pop should sound like. That is beautiful melodies, loud and jangly guitars, huge harmonies, extremely fresh and chirpy vocals - exactly what we find on The Lolas’ 2004 album Something You Oughta Know.There are many excellent tracks on this album. I can’t help loving songs like Dana the Chromium Girl, Plenty of Dogs, and It’s You I Want. On Little Deedra Timmeh & The Lolas totally sound like Silver Sun, a British band whose debut album is one of my all-time favourites. Light Up Every Doorway and Something You Oughta Know are oh so pretty. Tim’s Mom is also awesome. Can’t hear what Tim is actually singing, but I guess it isn’t necessary. Listening comprehension is the worst section in my English skills.Something You Oughta Know contains 15 tracks. Usually that is too much, because albums with more that 10-12 tracks and not a single redundant one are very rare. Unfortunately, this album isn’t one of those perfect creations. There are some tracks that don’t seem to be so very good. But, as always, should we care about the bad sides when we have those amazingly fresh and perfect other songs? We probably should. Please, dear pop songwriters, no more fillers/weaker songs!Hmm.. I really don’t think we should be so strict. In fact, the whole concept of favourite songs leads us to find certain songs less good than some other songs. If you like a specific song more than some other, you will probably think that the latter is.. not as good as your favourite. Then, those songs that you think aren’t so good might be considered very good by somebody else (who loves them). Man, this is difficult! And I’ve been dreaming about becoming a rock/pop critic…Maybe I’ll just continue listening to The Cars. That is pure heaven… (until the weaker tracks come – fortunately, I haven’t found many of those yet!)
The Lolas website