Grand Champeen - Dial T For This

We say, “we would like Olivia Tremor Control, but their Ivory Tower pretensions are intolerable, and anyway, they just rip off The Beatles.” Then we play The New Pornographers, and the melodies pour over our widening smiles into our amplified ears. “This is good, but sometimes we want to empathize, you know? This is all charm.” So they say, “here, listen to this, the fuzz guitars will drive sweetened hooks smoothly down your gullets, and the lyrics are clever, but steadfastly sincere.” And they hand us Grand Champeen. We listen, contort our faces into contemplative stares; this is sort of what we wanted. “Good, shall I leave it on?” “No, we don’t need to hear it again.” [www.grandchampeen.com]