SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME – One Kiss Ends It All
01. One Kiss
02. Invisible Friend
03. Empty Beach
04. Negative Space
05. New City
06. The Everpresent New Times Condition
07. Break In
08. Polar Bear
09. Are You Kissing Anyone?
10. Johnny
11. Sunglasses
12. Space Children<s/small>
SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME floats their fifth album, One Kiss Ends It All, out to you, dear listener, suspended from brightly colored Mylar balloons. A best-kept secret from Ann Arbor, Michigan, NOTHING BIT HOPE AND PASSION is always eager to check out a new-to-us band, especially one that is described in the promotional literature as hearkening back sixties pop and early indie rock and uses words like “spontaneous” and “breezy” when talking about it’s creation. Well this band has been around for over ten years, in various forms. The project of Fred Thomas (of HIS NAME IS ALIVE) SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME features vocalists Carol Catherine and Amber Fellows, along with bassist Scott DeRoche and drummer Ryan Howard. Former vocalist Betty Barnes makes an appearance on two tracks: The Everpresent New Times Condition and Negative Space. One Kiss Ends It All is what you want to sing along to you as you stroll through fields of dandelions and poppies, twirling your parasol. These twelve tracks feature a fresh mix of lo-fi and sweet sixties sound, think of a girl group mashed with an indie band and held together by a someone who worships BRIAN WILSON and BELLE AND SEBASTIAN, and you’re close. If you are a fan of Painful-era YO LA TENGO, you will adore this album.
The first track One Kiss features a false start, just as you think it’s all sweeping strings and sad, weepy background harmonies telling you “all of the time is gone,” the record scratches to a halt and the jangly tambourine, keyboards and surf guitar of Invisible Friend take over, telling you “everywhere I go/ there’s a shadowy hand holding my hand.” Negative Space tells you “I don’t want to talk about/things that haven’t happened yet.” New City, which is about being in one place too long, fuzzes out and distorts the vocals in the last thirty seconds of the track, making an excellent sound-to-meaning link. And you thought pop music wasn’t multi-layered. The Everpresent New Times Condition opens with strings that sound like they are filtered through your grandma’s gramophone, asking the question: do we feel nostalgic because it sounds old or do we feel old because it sounds nostalgic? Who cares, it’s lovely. Now go get on your best toe tapping shoes and close your eyes for some pure pop brilliance. Available on Polyvinyl Records, stream it for a short while here.