Jamie & Steve
(Loaded Goat)
While the international pop community no doubt recognizes the names above thie title right away, the average punter would be forgiven for drawing a blank without a subtle nudge, as in, "Jamie Hoover and Steve Stoeckel of the Spongetones." Lightbulb moment duly sparked - yeah, that Spongetones, NC's resident Merseybeat-cum-power-pop auteurs of several decades' tenure - the knowing nods soon give way to blissful smiles as the ‘tones guitar and bassist unspool their new 6-song EP, The Next Big Thing.
It's the followup to English Afterthoughts, a full-length issued in late '09 to the warm embrace of longtime Spongetones aficionados (including us at BLURT: read the review here). Yet where EA was clearly in the Beatlesque tradition of the mothership (there was even a ukulele nod to George Harrison), this new disc takes that primarily as a jumping off point from which to steer very firmly in the direction of latterday art-pop - in places, even art-rock - with complex production and arrangements that bring to mind such avatars of arcana as Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne (Move/ELO era), XTC, and (for all you youngsters) Apples in Stereo.
From opening track "Seaside Sparrow," which does indeed dip its toes firmly into the aforementioned XTC's pond (the singing's pure Andy Partridge-Colin Moulding, and the music suggests a close cousin to some of Skylarking's material), through the closing title track's lush, orchestral/choral vibe that, thanks to some trippy phasing effects and sitar-like lead guitar, emerges as one of the year's finest psychedelic moments, there's nary a misstep here. The duo's vocals in particular are worth attending closely: over 30 years of harmonizing tends to spawn a form of telepathic interaction anyway, but these guys sound like they could be siblings, wrapping around and coating each other's voices as if they were rich ice creams being blended together for a luxury dessert dish.
"Writing, recording, and performing music is so deeply embedded in our DNA that we couldn't stop if we wanted to," the duo writes, on the EP sleeve's liner notes. Boy howdy to that - the aural proof is in the grooves at hand.
DOWNLOAD: "The Next Big Thing," "Can We Start Again," "Seaside Sparrow" FRED MILLS
