now playing - someone still loves you boris yeltsin

all of my wishes have been fulfilled. i'm a pretty lucky guy.

i'm not quite done putting in my "required" listening time that i normally give to albums, but this one just couldn't wait. i became somewhat of a someone still loves you boris yeltsin fanboy rather quickly, appreciating the raw sound and easy going vocals of their previous effort broom.

i was pretty unsure of the band with the first few listens of broom. it grew on me, however, as a result of their lighthearted, relaxed persona.

i didn't expect much of a departure from their type of surf tinged pop rock with their latest album pershing. and although they haven't fundamentally changed their style, which they perform oh so perfectly, they sure have tamed and polished that beast. what keeps me interested in these guys is their ability to craft carefree indie-pop songs of overwhelming simplicity, knowing their boundaries, staying concise, and delivering. their official site offers a perfect example of what can be expected from pershing. no over-the-top web design, minimal links, and to the point.

pershing seems a perfect length as well. making the album run it's course in a bit less than 40 minutes pushes the listener to replay it without requiring an entire day's worth of devotion. the album is never allowed to drone and each of the songs can be enjoyed as individual efforts as effectively as the entire album can. it is a shiny collection of soothing vocals (both fore- and background), occasional hand claps, a horn section, acoustic and electric guitars, bass and drums.

this is the kind of timeless music that can be enjoyed by even your parents. first listens made me think of old weezer, but later on the beatles and even the beach boys as well. everyone knows how accessible they are, and although i've never been an avid listener of any of those bands, the influences are there. other influences are many, but everything boils down to one thing: accessible indie-pop rock. anyone can really get into this stuff. i'd suggest picking this one up if you're looking for a solid summer album.

<|indie pop, surf rock, acoustic|>

riyl: the beatles, the beach boys, wishing there was more well done feel-good music out there

mp3s from pershing:

think i wanna die (from polyvinyl records)
glue girls (from instrumental analysis)
modern mystery (from my old kentucky blog)

and here's the good, laugh inducing video for "think i wanna die":