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Faces Of 2011: The Alice Kona Band

"The Alice Kona Band were formed in early 2007, when 19 year old Alice Kona decided her music needed to be heard. Answering the advert she placed in the now-defunct Del-Fi magazine, were four young gunslingers by the names of Ryan Wiles, Stuart Gowdy, John Culbert and Daniel P. Hunt. They soon set about learning their instruments, but before they could get any further, tragedy struck. Alice, while on a short trip to Nevada in the summer of 2008, was the passenger in a GTO which veered into a ditch, unfortunately killing everyone in the car. The Alice Kona boys were left with a hard decision as to continue or not. Thankfully, they persevered, scrapping all their previously written material and crafting a catalouge of new songs."

So goes the Alice Kona Band's own version of their history. How much of this is true we doubt but we do know that they are yet another fine example of Northern Ireland's ridiculously vibrant scene. Feeding 60's garage into a mix of 50's pop, LA hardcore and 21st century misanthropy, expect a debut EP later this year.

The Alice Kona Band- Go Ask Alice by peesmith

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The life and times of Jose Gonzalez

The defining characteristic of Jose Gonzalez’ music is that it speaks to everyone. His ambient, stripped-down style embodies the essence of musical purity; a minimalist landscape conveyed in a language that is unequivocally universal. By the time the haunting harmonies of 'Heartbeats' had reached a global audience in 2005, courtesy of Sony, Gonzalez’ melancholic musings had already made a lasting impression in Sweden and mainland Europe.

With two critically-acclaimed solo albums to his credit, Gonzalez reunited with his original band Junip in 2010 following a five year hiatus. His return to the trio is marked not as a departure from his somnolent sound but rather an expansion into new tonal territories. Now set to embark upon a European tour in support of their first full-length album, Fields, I caught up with the sonorous Swedish songwriter to gain an insight into his past, present and prospective future.

2010 saw the return of Junip, was it easy to fall back into a band mindset? Yeah, musically when we started playing it sounded good from the start and that was a big relief; I thought it might take a long time before we sounded ok. It took time to write the songs though, there were times when it was frustrating but that is normal for me when I’m writing.

How did you write Fields; did you work on parts separately or did the songs develop through playing together? We jammed for weeks and weeks for the album. We always try to write together and we were lucky to have recording gear in our rehearsal space. Whenever we found something we liked, we recorded it straight away and just gathered a lot of media bytes filled with good music. It’s only in the last minute that I write the lyrics on my own.

Have you always written the music before you write the lyrics? Yeah, I’ve tried writing lyrics before I had any music, and it’s always been a bit weird. It’s easier to start with the music and then start making melodies and then afterwards add meaning to it.

There was a five year gap between the band’s first ep Black Refuge and Fields, had you always planned to come back and make a full-length album? Yeah, I’ve been talking about it ever since I started touring on my own, but it was always the case of trying to find the right time for it. Before I released my second album, we sat down and talked about trying to do this properly so we decided that after I finished the tour for that album we could give it a go.

Does the band have any plans for the future; is there a second album on the cards? Oh yeah definitely, we’ve already written new songs. We’re going to save some of them for the second album and other ones are about to be released as an EP. It used to take me a while to write new material, now with Junip it seems to flow.

The artwork for Fields is quite striking, it seems like there’s a story behind it. Yeah, it was all done by a Swedish artist named Fredrik Söderberg. I sent him the music before he painted it, and it’s in the same style of the things that he has done before. It has a lot of iconic, tribal and almost religious iconography buried underneath it. I love the way he combines very light colours, we try to avoid darker imagery.

Your music videos have always carried significant symbolic undertones, how did you develop the idea for the Teardrop video for instance? Andreas Nilsson was behind it; he’s done many of my videos and three of the Junip videos. We talked about doing something that resembled He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, a collage kind of video.

Your other collaborations with Nilsson featured characters created by cartoonist Jim Woodring. What drew you to his work? Andreas knew of his stuff, so it was his idea. We sat down to talk about the videos and I mentioned what I was thinking about when I wrote the music for In Our Nature. The album played on the idea that we’re all humans and animals so the hog-man felt like an interesting character that embodied the two.

You sighted The God Delusion as an influence for your second album. How did the work of Dawkin’s help shape In Our Nature? I was interested in the whole debate of science versus religion. I was searching for a topic to write about and it felt like one that influences the whole world. We know so much about nature right now compared to what we knew one hundred, two hundred years ago. I felt like it was an interesting clash to write about; on the one hand you have maybe more than 50% of the world believing in spirits and the divine creator and at the same time, we know so much about human biology that we’re able to take modern medicine for granted. I think Dawkins has many interesting punch lines when it comes to that debate. With Junip, I think I’ve continued a bit in that vein, especially on the song 'Howl', but I was thinking more about Daniel Dennett and his views on free will.

Your second album displayed a far greater depth in terms of lyrical theme, were there particular factors that led to this development? I’m not sure to be honest; I’ve always been uncomfortable writing lyrics. I think I’ve always just wanted to avoid writing relationship lyrics. I have to say that when I’m writing, it’s mostly about finding words that sound good; most of the time it’s not as deep as it seems. I try to find images that fit the music; I like it when it’s not that obvious what it’s all about, many of the times I was thinking about a few things so it’s more about art than trying to be intellectual.

Did you ever encountered problems writing in English? Yeah, when I started I wrote things with the wrong grammar or chose words that were a bit awkward, words that nobody uses; the song 'Storm' comes to mind. But nowadays, I’ve been on tour so much, I use English all the time when I’m speaking to people and I’ll read in English. I would say that writing is equally difficult with English as it is with Swedish. Most of the time, it’s more about finding stuff to write about than how to express yourself.

What was the first album that you ever bought? I think it was called Break Machine; it was like a breakdance LP that I bought with my brother. I was six I think and he was five. After that, it took a long time before I officially started buying music myself; then it was Michael Jackson. The first one was actually cooler than all of the other stuff I listened to later.

You were working on a PhD in Biochemistry when your solo career took off, was it a difficult decision to focus on your music? No, it was really easy actually. I had done one and a half years of my PhD studies, and in Sweden they have a half-way mark when you are supposed to present them with what you have been up to and how things have been going. It’s good if you have something published or at least have some results and I didn’t have that much. So I took half a year off to see if I could make it with just music and it went really well in Sweden in 2003, so the decision then was quite easy.

You were part of the Gothenburg hardcore scene in the nineties, how did that experience influence your solo career? I’m not sure; of course everything that you’ve been into in the past affects you in some way. My lyrics have a tone that is similar to the hardcore lyrics that I used to write; maybe the diy mentality as well.

You’ve always had a down to earth approach to recording your music, was that in part due to the same diy mindset? Yeah I think so. When we were playing hardcore, a lot of our friends had their own labels, so instead of going to big labels to try to release their stuff they would just put it out themselves. That’s what I did with my first solo album and also with Junip.

How did you make the transition from punk to acoustic music? I never really switched, when I first started playing bass in the punk band I was also learning how to play guitar and writing my own acoustic songs, so I used to be doing the two at the same time. It was more like a gradual letting go of the bands that I was in because I was studying so much, I didn’t feel like I had the time to rehearse with different bands every day.

You have also become known for your unique cover versions; how do you decide which songs to record? Most of time, I’ll pick something that seems interesting. If I’m going to record it, I always feel like it needs to be interesting in some way; that it’s so different you wouldn’t expect it to be a cover. 'Love will tear us apart', 'Teardrop' and 'Heartbeats', they would all be some of my favourite songs. 'Hand on your Heart' was a more interesting cover. The video was pretty happy and the production was pretty happy and yet the lyrics were about being heartbroken.

Can you remember playing your very first gig with Junip? Yeah it was in 97 or 98; we played in a cellar in Gothenburg with a band from the States called Unwound. I didn’t know if I was going to play one or two of my own songs first and then play with Junip but at the last moment, we decided to only play as Junip. From then on, I decided to make Junip separate from my own solo work.

You’re going on tour with Junip in the coming weeks, is there a level of excitement in the camp at the moment? Yeah definitely, I feel like we’ve stepped it up a bit and the songs are sounding better and better. We released the album in September so it’s been enough time for people to have listened to it. It’ll be our first time in Ireland as a group so we can’t wait.

Have you thought about making a third solo album in the near future? Yeah, we’re already writing new material for Junip and I’m also writing solo stuff. During the autumn, we’ll take a break from touring and just write new music. But I don’t know which order the releases will come, there will be music coming out from both sides.

What have been the highlights of your career so far? Having a crowd of people there to listen to my music is the greatest highlight I could ask for. There have been some weird shows that have stood out as well though. One was in my hometown, the Dali Llama was there and I was the opening act. It was in a hockey arena; it was pretty surreal.

What do you hope to be remembered for? I’ve had people tell me that they met their partners through my music. Even now, when younger people tell me that they grew up with my music, I realise that I’ve been around for awhile. That’s more than I ever could have asked for. I’m just happy I can play my music and if people like it, it’s a bonus. My ambitions have always been more on a personal level, I just want to have an interesting and fun life and make the most of it.

Junip will play live in Whelan’s on February 4th 2011.

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State Mix #28: Kevin Blake

Our second mix of 2011 comes from Limerick native Kevin Blake who has been moving dance floors in Cork for the past four years with his Electric Underground night. Over the last four years EU has put on over 100 gigs, with an array of international acts from some of dance music's finest labels including Warp, Ninja Tune, Rephlex and Planet Mu. Kevin's live sets and productions have led him to play gigs all around the country and have even brought him to play sets in France and the UK as well as festival performances at DEAF and Electric Picnic. This mix showcases some brand new un-named and unreleased music from Blake that's due to be released some time this year.

MP3: State Mix#28 - Kevin Blake

[audio:http://www.state.ie/mp3/mixes/028_State_Mix_-_Kevin_Blake.mp3]

What do you have planned for 2011? I'm currently on the hunt for a bit of fresh inspiration so 2011 will see me move to Vancouver for a bit of an adventure. I'm looking forward to getting away from Ireland for a while and hopefully I'll come back with a new lease on life. I definitely have to come back before the end of the year because I've just spent the last year recording a really good and promising album with our rock band 'Private Underground Residence'. I haven't released anything in about two years now as I want to get my production skills up to a level that I'm fully confident with. Going to spend the year hopefully working some form of job there, writing as much new music as I can, gigging along with a healthy balance of enjoying myself.

Is there a tracklist for the mix? Unfortunately not yet. It's that fresh!

When did you write the songs on the mix? I wrote these songs over the past three our four months. I became a little bit obsessed with wanting to make wonky hip hop and this is what came out.

Any particular artists that have especially inspired your current sound? I'm still not convinced that I have a current sound. At the moment I'm just making bass heavy music. Sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's colourful. I'm not in any rush to get one either, just going to try and keep banging out good tunes.

As for artists who would have inspired the kind of tunes on this mix; Loops Haunt blew the shit out of me when I heard him first. He really took production standards to another level. As well as him there’s Flying Lotus, Prefuse 73, Kuedo, Zomby, Boxcutter, Dimlite, Mike Slott, Luke Vibert and a few more I can't think of!

Ten Past Seven (Johnston's Cows - Kevin Blake Sea Mix) by Kevin Blake

You reworked a track for Ten Past Seven - any plans for remixing other bands/ artists? Ten Past Seven was my first attempt at a remix. It was pretty daunting until I actually dug into it. Would love to have a go at remixing other bands and artists, so as long as I'm into the music then I'm open to anything.

What lessons have you learned from your years with Electric Underground? Electric Undergroundhas been a serious rollercoaster. The buzz never gets old meeting artists who've inspired you for years and getting bits of advice from them along the way. When EU first began my taste in electronic music was fairly all over the place.

I was pretty young though. I liked a bit of good dance music, but in retrospect some of the bookings were a bit naff. Over the course of it my taste has developed a huge amount. I'm a lot more musically educated so the bookings have hopefully gotten a lot better. I know the scene pretty well now and have gotten to know some great heads. I've also learned that to run a club night properly you have to book with your head more so than your heart. We've taken a huge amount of risks along the way booking people we wanted to see but if there isn't a market for them you're going to loose money. Eamon who runs the night with me will keep it going while I'm abroad.

If you're a band, producer or DJ and would like to contribute to the State mix series, drop us a proposal or a sample mix.

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Faces of 2011 - Retarded Cop

If you were down with Dublin punk-rock you're probably aware of Moutpiece, and particularly with their album artwork which featured singer Gaz Le Rock in his jocks outside a Dublin city centre fruit wholesalers giving it socks with a guitar.

Gaz, now an awesome RTE 2XM radio DJ (The Loving Room Floor) is channeling that same energy and fervour into his solo punk pop project Retarded Cop. Since November, Gaz has been posting up Youtube videos and streams of new songs almost every week. A debut LP is in the works right now with some gigs coming up very soon that will feature two drummers. It's pop from the cop.

[ Youtube | Soundcloud | iTunes | Twitter | Bandcamp ]

Photo by Sean Conroy.

RETARDED COP-COPVAN RETARDED COP - I'm going back in time

RETARDED COP - OBJECTIFY ME

RETARDED COP -The Unlucky One

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Faces Of 2011 - Go Panda Go

Far from China, Go Panda Go represent the North West of Ireland with member hailing from Donegal and Galway. The quartet impressed us with their four-track debut EP released last year on Bluestack Records (home to Daithi O' Dronai who contributed to the EP, Lost Chord and The Casanova Wave).

A mix of taut indie-rock rhythms, boisterous harmonies and reflective melodies, the band display an assured and established sound so we're convinced that there is plenty more to look forward to in the coming 12 months. Go Panda Go indeed!

Go Panda Go EP by Go Panda Go

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Faces Of 2011: The Minutes

A classic case of a band going away and waiting till they got it right, The Minutes a far more intriguing prospect than we might have imagined. An out and out power pop trio they maybe, but the Minutes have a lot more to them than just some loud guitars and catchy tunes - although those would have been enough to win us over. The excellent videos for last year's 'Secret History' and 'Fleetwood' singles showed a creative intelligence at work and their debut album, now due on Fight Like Apes' label Model Citizen, is already one of our favourites of the year.

Photo: Ian Keegan

The Minutes - Black Keys by The Minutes

The Minutes - Secret History

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An Interview with The Phantom Band

Barely a minute into the conversation and Gerry Hart from The Phantom Band has already invited himself to kip over in State’s house next time he and his band of five merry men are coming through town. Sure, it’s a little forward but it’s the kind of upfront attitude we like here.

The Scottish six-piece, who released their follow-up album The Wants in October of last year, are due to hit Irish shores this week for a mini-tour around the country, and bassist Gerry tells us that the group have been looking forward to their adventure. “We’ve only played Whelans once before, and I was pretty drunk if I remember right. To be honest, I’ve wanted to it (an Irish tour) for ages, but we only do things when people ask us. We’ve not got any grand plan,” he admits. And there’s no grand plan for when they’re on the road either. They play a show and then let the accommodation take care of itself. “We try not to book anywhere, and kip in people’s houses if they are so kind to let us – anything to keep costs down because generally, we can’t afford to do anything other! To be honest, everywhere people are friendly and more than welcoming. In quite a few places there was more than one person offering. You meet some nice people, some interesting characters and get a bit of the local knowledge,” Gerry says.

This sense of unpredictability doesn’t just run through The Phantom Band’s touring plans, it’s a thread that is entwined with how they make music. When The Wants was released, it was lauded – and rightly so – for its myriad influences lacing into an intricately crafted, oft-whimsical, oft-epic, folk, and if the description sounds long-winded then it is, for there is nothing concise about the album. It works very much as a whole, winding its way through its mystical soundscape. The creation of such music, Gerry tells us, is very much unplanned. “We just go in and mess about and see what comes out. Sometimes it can be pretty jarring, and sounds a little off kilter – just playing different styles on top of each other. It can be a little bit off-putting, but you keep playing and then a rhythm will come in, or something will jump out and we’ll realise that’s the one to go for,” he explains.

He adds: “I always remember Public Enemy would go into the studio and they would play loads and loads of samples on top of one another. Nothing would be fitting but they’d take a tiny little bit that would jump out at them. It’s kind of like that with us. You don’t get confused.” Somehow it works, even if the band themselves aren’t quite sure how. He disagrees with our suggestion that the group have an instinctive understanding of each other after having played together for about five years. “I can never tell what some people are going to do. It’s not so much a case of knowing what another person is going to do. I certainly don’t. I’ve not the foresight to even figure out what I’m going to be doing next,” he laughs.

This jamming style of creation carries over from the Phantom Band’s early work. Although now much more likely to play a standard set, the sextet originally started out as an improvised group, performing under a variety of different names which Gerry says allowed them to experiment, to grow as a band, and to simply just have fun.

“Our early gigs, a lot of the times they were long jams, improvised. It was just a case of not putting any big emphasis on it thinking: ‘we’ll just go out, enjoy ourselves and make good interesting music’. So I suppose it’s all a progression, gives you confidence, makes the band into who you are. But there’s no disowning those old bands, those old names. Sometimes, I feel like I want to go out and do some of those gigs again, under old pseudonyms, or new ones,” he says.

But there’s no hiding for the Phantom Band anymore whether it be behind pseudonyms or as they used to perform, with bags over their heads. The forthcoming Irish tour will be straight-up musical performance. “We always constructed stuff to do on our faces. We were so ugly at the start. We thought we can’t show our faces, but now we’re just mildly ugly so there’s no harm in showing our faces,” Gerry says, tongue firmly in cheek.

“We’ve been known to wear capes, robes and things like that but no theatrics this time, just four to floor. I don’t think it’s important but if something’s well done, it can impact the gig for the better. Some of my favourite gigs have been absolutely nothing, but then again you go see so many gigs, it’s always good to have one that stands out.” As he points out, gigs don’t always need bells and whistles to stand out: “There’s that Neil Young DVD. It’s like a theatre production. All these roadies are like little ewoks or something, and the books on stage are huge. He (Neil Young) looks really small. But then I went to see him last year or year before in Aberdeen with no theatrics, and it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been at.”

By the time we say goodbye, we’ve discussed swine flu and super human resistance, record shop nostalgia and State’s even tried to do the hard sell on Irish music – and we’re sure had we the time, young Gerry would have been willing to chat about a million things more. If the band’s live performance exudes even half the warmth of their album, or half the charm of their persona then this month’s tour is one not to be missed.

The Phantom Band play Cork (18 Jan), Dublin (19 Jan), Limerick (20 Jan), Galway (21 Jan) and Belfast (22 Jan).

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Faces of 2011 - C!ties

Injecting vigour into the reigning instrumental music scene Clare band C!ties infuse power riffs, ambient sounds, ghostly chorals, electronics and even some drum and bass beats into post-rock arrangements - hear for yourself on Breaking Tunes. A constant on the live circuit the trio impressed our own Daniel Harrison in Galway when they delivered "a set that not only brings the volume but also wrong foots you with deft twists and turns, with the band switching between pounding post-rock, guitar-led grooves and electronic flourishes".

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State Mix #27: Transparent

Transparent started life six years ago in London as a physical print fanzine. In 2006 the project curated shows around the city with artists including Girls, Laura Marling, Florence & The Machine, Foals, Telepathe, Noah and the Whale, The XX, Late of the Pier, The Very Best to name but a few. Like many print entities the magazine moved online to Transparent Blog - an essential check point for the most ardent music fan reporting the freshest sounds and tracks from around the globe with particular emphasis on the local London scene, Swedish pop & electro acts as well as all things synthy, glo-fi, shoegaze, hypergogic, R&B, tropical, DIY, lo-fi, dubstep, scuzzy, tribal, folk, ambient and everything worth hearing State-side and the rest of the world.

In 2009 Transparent Records was created, circulating some of the finest vinyl and digital releases of the last couple of years, a debut point for many acts such as Cymbals Eat Guitars, Small Black, Smith Westerns, Washed Out, Active Child, Perfume Genius, Kisses and many more.

Their State mix is collection of six singles, with Yuck and Porcelain Raft covering each other, along with two non-Transparent tracks (Disclosure / Magick Mountain).

Tracklisting

01. How To Dress Well - 'Ecstatsy of Jojo' 02. Holy Other - 'We Over' 03. Disclosure - 'Linstigator' 04. Lonely Galaxy - 'Modern Romance' 05. Yuck - 'Despite Everything' 06. Porcelain Raft - 'The Wall' 07. Magick Mountain - 'Plains' 08. Wise Blood - 'Rot My Brain Away'

MP3: State Mix #27: Transparent

[audio:http://www.state.ie/mp3/mixes/027_State_Mix_Transparent.mp3]

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Faces of 2011 - The Mighty Atomics

Formed in the summer of 2008, The Mighty Atomics are proof that there's more to rock 'n' roll in Ireland than a certain singer from the Liberties. A far rougher version, throwing surf and punk into the mix, they released their debut album in September, following it with a three week European tour that culminated with a support slot to, yes, Imelda May at the Olympia.

Kill That Boy by Mighty Atomics

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Faces of 2011 - We Are Losers

Describing themselves as “Pavement jamming with Go West,” Gavin Elsted's We Are Losers splice together retro synths and backbeats with riffy, lo-fi garage rock straight out of 1980's America. They retain an unashamed pop sensibility beneath all the bleepy keys and superfuzz guitars, with addictive vocal hooks and summery harmonies shining through in the mix. The group, which features members of Super Extra Bonus Party and Grand Pocket Orchestra, quickly earned their spurs when, for only their third ever gig, they supported Local Natives. The band has a busy start to the year, with a string of split side 7” releases, compilaton contributions and their first domestic single all due in the first quarter.

Photo - Loreana Rushe

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Faces of 2011 - Hired Hands

If intricate indie-pop is your thing, then look no further than Galway and Dublin's Hired Hands. Signed to Any Other City Records which of course, released Villagers early material as well as New Amusement, Hired Hands revel in the sounds of folk, a touch of jazz, melodies like nursery rhymes and playground times with waltzing rhythms.

All packaged up with distinctly Irish voices combined in Dirty Projectors-esque harmonies.

Hired Hands play Whelan's Ones To Watch 2011 on Friday.

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Faces Of 2011 - EleventyFour

EleventyFour first won State's heart when she brought us a packet of biscuits at last year's HWCH mentor sessions. She then went on to win everybody else's by playing live that night. The Cork native is a product of the cabaret as much as the music scene but don't let that put you off, her songs are just that - real songs that just happen to make you smile. Plus her dad think's she's better than Celine Dion and we would hate to disagree. We look forward to her new EP, recorded with Steve Lynch at Stellarsound.

Forklife by eleventyfour

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Faces of 2011 - Bingo

Dublin native DJ and producer Frank Sweeney aka Bingo is a resident of the MrJones club in Twisted Pepper and co-curator of Float parties - a UK funky, grime & dubstep event. Making music in the same vein of Mount Kimbie, Joy Orbison and James Blake, Bingo is very much in the same league as his prestigious peers. With finely produced and richly adorned glitchy tracks such as 'Cold Without You' and 'Keep Me High', Ireland has it's very own post-dubstep poster-boy.

Cold Without You (Original Mix) by frankiebingo

Bingo - Keep Me High (Original Mix) by frankiebingo

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Faces of 2011 - Owensie

Owensie is to Jose Gonzalez as James Vincent McMorrow is to Bon Iver; the comparisons are inevitable but when you look past the immediate similarities and you'll find a remarkable artist in their own right. A former member of Terodactyl and Puget Sound, Owensie's current sound is a blend of Spanish/classical guitar and wistful Americana-tinged folk with a vocal that is altogether more palatable that Gonzales' - breathy with a smooth falsetto. His debut LP is collection on 9 tracks, compelling plucked guitar hooks and resonating melodies. Entitled Aliens the album will be released February 4th via Out On A Limb; a launch gig takes place in The Back Loft, La Cathedral Studios, Dublin, on Friday January 21st.

Owensie plays Whelan's Ones To Watch on Wednesday.

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Faces of 2011 - Alarmist

The four guys in Alarmist wasted no time getting themselves noticed on the live Dublin circuit. A handful of shows in places like Bloc-T in Smithfield ignited their reputation as a killer live band. Yes, they're another instrumental band but rather than taking their cues from rock histrionics, they are clearly inspired by a wider range of sounds. They share similar freneticism to Foals in interlocking melodies, Halves in ambience (Ellis Czerniak of Halves is in the band) and the beguiling notes of Strands.

Check out their first two recorded tracks and look out for an EP in early 2011.

Alarmist play Whelan's Ones To Watch on Friday, Upstairs in Whelan's.

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Faces of 2011 - Yeh Deadlies

Yeh Deadlies are one of the pilot bands on Popical Island - Ireland's premier leftfield pop collective - and put a Y into State's A - Z of 2010's EPs with last year's The Dead Living EP. Embodying lo-fi, feel-good, sugar-coated indie-pop the Dublin quintet's approach to song is straight-forward: simple sing-along melodies, folk nuances and quirky lyrics wrapped in jangly guitar-pop overflowing with fervor while maintaining cut-loose DIY sensibilities.

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