“By combining the penetrating wussiness and mincing prosody of Elliott Smith with the emo theatrics and big sappy choruses of Conor Oberst (check out the sculpted, harmony-drenched surges of "Not Going Home"), Sennett has turned out an album of sparkly country slow-dances that sound at once utterly artificial and genuinely beguiling.”
Let me set the stage for you; I am cranky. Very cranky. I have spent a straight week of dedicated listening in hopes of getting through my ever growing pile of promo cds (Pitchfork I know you feel our pain x100 on this subject) and out of some 60 or 70 discs there are less than 5 cds I ever want to listen to again. The Elected's Sun, Sun, Sun is not one of them. *
Oh, and I also want to strangle Converge for inspiring yet another new crop of bands to mix metal with hardcore.
Anyhow…
What the hell is happening to indie rock? Sun, Sun, Sun, is EZ-emo; slick AM Gold pop country made by the kids (grown up kids) for the kids yet it sounds like something a doctor’s office waiting room might play for the over 50 set waiting for their first pair of dentures. It genuinely blows my mind that this kind of record would appeal to anyone under the age of serious Jimmy Buffet fan. The Elected make the New Pornographers’ music sound macho and aggresive by comparison and I am pretty sure in a bar brawl Carl Newman could take Blake Sennett out with one punch… but I digress.
I don’t care how many reviews name drop Elliott Smith or Bright Eyes (and how sick are you of reading those name tags for every hushed sad male artist with a guitar???), no parallel to greatness should be hinted at here and even though that’s coming from a person who doesn’t like Bright Eyes, I still appreciate and understand why people love that band. To be blunt The Elected would put the biggest Gram Parsons fan to sleep and while soft rock might be just the thing to put your date in the mood, I am pretty sure your make-out partner would laugh in your face for playing something so utterly cheesE-Z.
That reminds me; I brought Sun Sun Sun on a mini road trip to me a few days ago and it made me so damn sleepy that I had to spit it out of my stereo by track 7. I wouldn’t recommend this cd for any reason other than to pad your day with dispensable fluff and sax solos. I also wouldn’t dream of giving this a 6.8 but I suppose Rilo Kiley fans will think the rating isn’t high enough.
These kids today, I just don't understand them.
* Also allow me to further explain: I know some of the records we review have been out for a while but we aren’t a very big staff and there are only so many hours in the day. We all have full time jobs so this hobby of a blog suffers accordingly. We get to our promos when we can and in no particular order. It’s not ideal but we try our best.
