Gretchen’s Wheel “Black Box Theory”
Nashville singer-songwriter Lindsay Murray’s gentle vocals always work best with a contrasting guitar riff. On last year’s Sad Scientist it was done quite effectively. The new album Black Box Theory was mastered by studio wiz Andy Reed and mixed by Nick Bertling (drums, guitar, synths). Without the additional players from her last album (Fernando Perdomo, Ken Stringfellow, etc.) this feels more like a personal statement for Lindsay.
The riffs get heavier and Murray’s tone is noticeably more serious, almost resigned as “Untethered” states “guess it never hurts to try / except when it does.“ The melodies on “Plans” and “Funny Thing” are compelling enough, but even the engaging jangle on “The Maze” is permeated with negativity as she intones “you’re too far gone to start again.” It almost feels like she’s channeling Aimee Mann at her most gloomy. She stays mostly in the lower vocal register, but at the very end in “Something’s Coming” we get a glimmer of hope. While overall its musically very good, the songs tend to homogeneously bleed into one another, and it isn’t until “Imp” we get a change in tempo. I hope we get something a little more uplifting on the next album. Still, fans may disagree and dig it.
The Elastic Band “Fun, Fun, Fun”
Sometimes I find something so different and weird — it catches my attention even if it really isn’t power pop. The Elastic Band is from Granada, Spain and the music project of Pablo Román and María Sánchez. Using an electric mandolin and analog synths, old school 50’s sampling, they make small bedroom styled pop sound big.
The playful opener “All Its Done” is pleasing, if unintelligible with Pablo’s thick accent. Like a Euro mash-up of pop strings and playful percussion “BaRRy W” mentions Barry White but sure as hell doesn’t sound like him (even if it does get your feet moving!). “CalyPso” sounds like the Addams family harpsichord mixed with ELO-styled overdubbing. It’s definitely both fun and disorienting as it cycles through 13 tracks. If you dare for something different, give this a spin.