That Not So Fresh Feeling

Chances are, if you turned on the radio or TV this year, you heard or saw Bon Iver. The band (well, Justin Vernon) popped up performing on pretty much every late night show, The Colbert Report, etc. His songs made it from alternative radio to pop radio to everything in between. He hung with Kanye.

And it wasn’t just for show. Bon Iver (the album is self-titled) was a phenomenal album. Different from the quiet folky songs of the previous releases, but no so different that it wasn’t Bon Iver. The sound has evolved. It’s got a few more instruments, maybe it’s a little brighter; but it’s still the same falsetto, it feels just as sparse at times.

“Calgary”, for my money, is the track off the album, though honestly, you could have picked almost any song (it’s really is a remarkable album). Here, you have the falsetto, leading into an almost 80s drum beat, on top of some synths. It feels small, even though you know it’s not. But as you pass the halfway point, you get the slightly offkey guitars, and the song changes a bit. Just a bit. The 80s sound drops out and it feels like an acoustic song that isn’t acoustic.

I don’t know how to describe it. I think that’s how I can describe a lot of the tracks off of Bon Iver. I can’t tell you why they’re different. I can just tell you they are.

Hey, another female fronted band (this isn’t the last on the list)! Cults were sort of the music blog darlings of 2010-11, with their ridiculous good songs “Go Outside” and “Abducted”. Another duo, this is 60s and 70s pop music drenched in today’s production to come out with a sound that you’d be hard pressed to pinpoint in era.

It’s also really good. This track stands out, in my mind, because of how blatantly it rips off “Where Did Our Love Go?” Normally, that’d be a bad thing, but it is so overtly borrowed, yet so incredibly different, that you can’t help but feel like this is the modern successor to that song.

At 2 and a half minutes, it’s this perfect, fuzzy, slow, sort of haunting song that has these little moments of power that pop up every 30 seconds or so. It’s short enough (like most Cults songs) that it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

This song could have easily come out on Fountains of Wayne’s self-titled debut album, on its follow up Utopia Parkway, or (with a bit more sheen) on Welcome, Interstate Managers. Which is to say, it would have fit in perfectly on three of the shiniest, most perfect pop albums of the last 15 years.

There are a few keys to a great Fountains of Wayne song:

• Some pretty specific details (think “Radiation Vibe”, “Stacy’s Mom”, “Red Dragon Tattoo”)
• A super hummable hook (everybody can still sing “Stacy’s Mom”, and I bet if you heard “Denise” once you’d know it for life)
• Shiny guitars

“The Summer Place” has all three elements in spades.

Details

She’s been afraid of the Cuisinart since 1977
Now when she opens up the house
Well, she won’t set foot in the kitchen

Hummable Hook

M-i-i-ind

Shiny Guitars
The song starts out with about 20 seconds of danceable guitar riffs. What more do you want?

Sky Full of Holes was a really great return to form by Fountains of Wayne. There are probably 3 or 4 more songs I could have chosen off the album. It’s worth the listen.