The Kids Are Alright, or, Catching Up

Saw these local boys opening for Page France the other night. They closed their set with this one, which opens their EP (which, by the way, has a really gorgeous cover, but then I’ve always dug on elephant imagery).

• Great Bloomers, “Catching Up” (info here)

It starts off all country-rock wobble, then veers into guitar & vocal lines right out of midperiod Sonic Youth, complete with feedback squalling away (albeit decorously, over in the corner). Nothing new under this particular sun, maybe, but it’s still confident & charming & startlingly full-on realized. Makes me want to hear more from them.

They also did, the other night, “Happy Talk,” announced as a Daniel Johnston cover, though I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they know about South Pacific and all that. Speaking of which, vintage Broadway cast recordings are apparently where Soulseek’s great mp3-trawling reach breaks down. You know, in case you were wondering. But I do have the good old Captain Sensible version on hand, thanks to a homemade comp JJ made me years ago.

• Captain Sensible, “Happy Talk” (buy here)

Page France was the headliner, there in a travelling two-man version. I enjoyed their set – it peaked with a longish version of “Chariot” that spiralled upward – but the show could have really used the added sonic textures that a full band would bring. Especially since PF suffers from a samey sound at the best of times.

• Page France, “Chariot” (buy Hello, Dear Wind here)

Like many of their songs, this one’s overtly religious. But I like that while the Christian stuff is up front much of the time, it doesn’t come off as exoticized or spooky-for-effect. (Not even the one about Jesus crawling through the ground.) Just the opposite: the singer’s everyman nasal whine somehow assimilates all the trumpets & angels & fire until they seem like prosaic facts of life. Which makes him sound like a real believer, not a tourist. Which is refreshing, at least to this tourist.