Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin preview

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Mizzurah’s Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin paint in even softer tones on their sophomore album, and first for Champaign-based Polyvinyl Records.

The three-year-old Broom, eventually reissued by Polyvinyl, was an effortless power pop love letter, abounding with “do-do” and “ba-ba”-like exuberance, made all that more charming by rough-edged basement technology. The new Pershing — presumably named for the Missouri-born super-general, a closer-to-home namesake than former Russian premier Yeltsin — has an even smoother ride, at little cost.

When “Dead Right” opens with the melody from “Summertime Blues,” you don’t shake your head at the thievary, you note how they go with The Beach Boys over Eddie Cochran and Blue Cheer. It’s gentle and nearly fey, but SSLYBY never get cloying or obnoxiously bubblegum. As if showing off their indie craft, “Modern Mystery” weaves vocal harmonies as deftly as Pinback, and “Oceanographer” can shake its ass without masquerading in tried-and-trite disco punk. They could probably go softer still, all the better to disarm us before sticking in their hooks.

Via Audio and The Silent Years open.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here to download “Think I Wanna Die.” http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/media/prc-151-07.mp3

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly