July 22, 2003

In the Present, Echoes of the Past

n rock music at the moment, the best new bands seem to be the ones with the best record collections. The Darkness is mining its collection of 70's glam-rock and heavy metal to become one of the most promising new British bands, one you can simultaneously laugh at and pump your fist in the air to, while Interpol has become one of New York's favorite exports with brooding post-punk similar to that of Joy Division. Below are three relatively new bands from overseas that, at times, ape their favorite albums from the 60's. The Sleepy Jackson quotes Bob Dylan, the Thrills quote the Monkees, and the Super Furry Animals sample the more obscure Wendy and Bonnie. Yet at the same time, all three acts have enough personality to transcend their record collections and release these consistently engaging — at times breathtaking — albums.

So Much for the City
The Thrills

At some point in their roughly 23 years on this earth, the six young members of the Dublin band the Thrills fell in love with California. Their best songs make more than passing mention of Santa Cruz, Big Sur and, on two different tracks, San Diego. Their music pays homage to the West Coast rock and pop of the 60's. And their videos depict beaches, surfing, blondes in bikinis and band members wearing U.C.L.A. and Mickey Mouse T-shirts. In fact, on their first full-length CD, "So Much for the City" (Virgin U.K.), the Thrills make the retro-pop confections that Rooney (an actual California band of the moment) fell short of on its recent debut.

Shot through with pumping piano, brittle banjo melodies, swooning pop harmonies and the occasional harmonica solo, the music is made for a road trip along the coast, with the sun high in the sky, the convertible top down and the smell of sea spray in the breeze. What makes the music stand out from the hordes of 60's revivalists already questing for the perfect pop moment is Conor Deasy, who sings each song in a high, breathy, almost strained voice, similar to that of Jason Lytle of Grandaddy (another California band, naturally). The first six songs on this CD are so stellar that it's hard to keep from backing up the album over and over again, never making it to the end.

Lovers
The Sleepy Jackson

Like the Thrills, the Sleepy Jackson, led by 23-year-old Luke Steele, takes its cue from the classic pop of the 60's, mixing it with the neo-psychedelia of groups like the Flaming Lips. But where the Thrills stay in a tight, well-defined niche, the Sleepy Jackson is all over the place. On first impression, its debut American CD, "Lovers" (Virgin), sounds like a compilation. There's the swaying falsetto pop of "Good Dancers," the post-punk hammering of "Velvet Racecourse," the Beatles-go-country of "This Day," the low-fi poetry reading of "Feed Me With Apples," the Bob Dylan references of "Old Dirt Farmer" and the Burt Bacharach vocal arrangements of "Don't You Know." As if that isn't eclectic enough, there's a lullaby, "Morning Bird," sung by a 10-year-old girl.

This is not a stable album, and, judging by the music and the constantly changing lineup of the Sleepy Jackson, Mr. Steele does not seem like a stable man. But he wields unwieldiness like a weapon. It is his strength. He is a perfectionist and eccentric, somewhere on the spectrum between Brian Wilson and Daniel Johnston. "Lovers" has the strength of sounding so familiar yet so unusual, owing to Mr. Steele's combination of talent, taste and technique with weirdness, obsessiveness and delusions of grandeur. When in the right balance, these traits lead to artists' being portrayed by their admirers as geniuses. But just when one wants to bow down to Mr. Steele as this fantastic album unfolds, he neutralizes high expectations with lyrics like, "If I was a girl, I'd wear a miniskirt into town."

Phantom Power
Super Furry Animals

"Phantom Power" (XL/Beggar's Group) begins like a 60's duet and then moves through pedal-steel country, psychedelic rock and Burt Bacharach arrangements. It sounds like the learned classic pop eclecticism of the Sleepy Jackson all over again.

The Super Furry Animals have been releasing CD's, each one a new concept and revelation, since the mid-90's. Yet through all the band's changes — from its Scott Walker obsession to its techno flirtation — the unmistakable accent of the singer Gruff Rhys has given it a consistent sound.

Though the group and many fans point to its previous album, "Rings Around the World," as its masterpiece, its first full CD, "Fuzzy Logic" from 1996, remains the one that best grabs hold of the listener, with unforgettable pop melodies combining with the sea legs of band members getting used to singing in English (as opposed to their native Welsh) for the first time on album.

The mercurial "Phantom Power" is less ambitious than "Rings Around the World" and less catchy than "Fuzzy Logic," but it is saturated with aching pop moments and sophisticated arrangements, each one coming on like a distant dream of a favorite 60's song. And though the songs may at first glance seem whimsical (named after dogs, valets and Venus and Serena Williams), they often serve here as gateways to deeper reflections on war (be it in the Falklands or the Persian Gulf), nuclear power and the tarnished American Dream.