Wheat - Per Second, Per Second, Per Second… Every Second

Not being familiar with Wheat, I was pretty unassuming when I got this disc in the mail. Produced by Dave Fridmann, who has worked with luminaries The Flaming Lips, and reading a brief bio, I begin to think the album had potential to be decent. It took about 30 seconds of the first track to destroy that idea. This album is not decent; it’s down right great. Blending part pop and part rock with some alt country, Wheat has produced an album that is as American and wholesome as the grain sharing its name. Per Second, Per Second, Per Second… Every Second finds the trio far more optimistic than in years past, and the transfer from sappy sad suckers to a tight and jamming band is astounding. “I Met A Girl” opens the album with a charge of sweet sorrow, making you smile listening to the tale of love and love lost before it could begin. “Breathe” is groovy and dreamy and sets the album into the mood it follows throughout: part riff driven, part piano, part acoustic strum, part dreamlike trance. Closing up the first half of the disc, “Some Days” sounds like a New Radicals song with a midwest twist. The album pendulums between dreamy acoustic epics and fun and gun strumming, optimistic love and mournful falls, and nowhere is that more evident than in two of the albums later, and stronger, tracks, “The Beginner” and “Closer To Mercury”. “The Beginner” is a laid back acoustic, epic sounding piece about facing new things and new experiences with an anxious but open heart. Two tracks later the swing is complete with “Closer To Mercury,” an almost 70’s rocker meets The Marvelous 3, focusing on lost love and mourning while moving on with life. The grain has grown tall and fruitful in these fields as Wheat has put out one of the tightest pop rock records I have heard all year. Touched by stellar production and completed with strong song writing, Per Second, Per Second, Per Second… Every Second is a must-listen for anyone who enjoys Americana pop at its best. Combining a variety of influences and sounds ranging from Wilco to Matthew Sweet, the album is a joy from beginning to end. Well done boys. [www.wheatmusic.com]