Labels: Count Your Lucky Stars
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Ok, so this is some sort of post Hey Mercedes / pre Braid reunion band that Mr. Robert Nanna has gotten involved in. Named after a Morrissey song, Morrissey / the Smiths being a Nanna trope it would appear. A demo surfaced a couple of years ago in an unmixed state, and whilst the songs were perfectly good, the sound quality was a bit grim and not ready for consumption. Fortunately Count Your Lucky Stars got involved and those songs have multiplied and an album has come to fruition. Bonus! CPIK have produced a solid if not exactly spectacular record, slotting comfortably into Bob’s canon (ooer?), by not sounding drastically different to any band he has contributed to in the past decade. The recording still isn’t quite there, it has somewhat of a live feel, which I don’t have an issue with, however just that a little more attention and polish could have smartened this up into something a touch more impressive. The song writing and structure is more than there though, which means that you are left with a very competent record. It’s packed full of smartly written, slightly low-key emo-pop songs, mostly with Bob singing but also female vocals provided by someone that I am trying to find the name of but pretty much every website that talks about this band just mentions Bob. Hohum, now I am just adding to that failing. The riffs are charming and enjoyable, and songs have little touches that really hit home. Just check out the rolling bass on “Strongsuit”- woah! Delightful. The swaying “NYE” is rather notable too, a little bit of a pacey emo-waltz sneaking in here and there, whilst the incendiary “King of Shots” may be the pick of the bunch, getting the job done in double quick time.
All in all, I certainly can say I prefer this to the recent Braid EP. It may not be a dramatically astonishing album, but is crammed full of solid songs. And Bob. Oh Bob. It’s not as poppy as Hey Mercedes, it’s not as bouncy or creative as old time Braid, but it builds on those two periods and totally delivers on it’s intentions. It blows by at speed and there is no filler, just riffy emo-pop with great vocals and a total understanding of what is required to produce good songs in this style. You can’t say fairer than that. I’m down.