As you might imagine, CoolDad Music gets a good deal of email. Definitely a lot less than lots of music-related websites; but, sometimes, too much for me to deal with all by myself. I ultimately read everything, but I have to prioritize. The first things I always click on immediately are emails that look like they were sent to me personally and not obviously as part of some bulk PR blitz.
A while back, I got one that said simply:
"You are cordially invited to listen to a preview of our new album, Big Quiet."
OK. So maybe not hugely personal, but it came from Big Quiet directly. I clicked through to the album and saw "All songs produced & mixed by Mitch Easter and Big Quiet." Um... ...What?
Mitch Easter? Like Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning Mitch Easter? Like Game Theory Mitch Easter? Like Boylan Heights Mitch Easter? Like engineer on Brighten The Corners Mitch Easter? Well, ok then.
I listened to the record. And I listened to the record again. This is a good record. Big Quiet are a Brooklyn-based trio who possess an obvious affinity for the southern gothic, jangly, post-punk sounds of my youth. I guess you'd probably call it "dream pop" in 2015, but the songs retain some of the jagged edges that make those first three R.E.M. records some of my favorites of all time.
The album opens with "You're Gonna Find Out;" and, right away, things sound big and spacious. "You're gonna find out how this ends," sings Cerio; and there is this kind of theme on the record that she's going to be the person she wants which may or may not be exactly what you expected.
It's one of the songs on the album that I'd put into the (made-up for the purposes of this piece) southern-fried shoegaze category as the band holds off on the serious jangle pop for a little later. Cerio's guitar is distorted and Chris Matheson provides a post-punk style bassline. Cerio's vocals are also way more out front than either typical shoegaze or early R.E.M., and her delivery reminds me a bit of Belinda Carlisle.
"Ghost" is built around a familiar-sounding but can't-quite-place-it poppy riff. The doubled vocals and harmonies along with Stephen Perry's rolling drums make for another big indie pop gem.
It's on third track "Why Do We Bother?" that we get our first real references to the sounds of something like Reckoning as Cerio's Rickenbacker jangles its way throughout the song. It's not a delicate nostalgia piece, though, as things get a lot noisier for the chorus. Similarly, the guitar work on "Say Yes" and "Nervous" had me thinking back to early Peter Buck; but there's something in the power of the rhythm section and the guitar solo on "Nervous" that make things sound more modern.
"Punk Floyd" kicks of with a noisy, shoegazy intro before things get much poppier, Cerio singing a catalog of things "I'm not." "Never Smile" is the album's longest song at just over four minutes. It's got a fantastically jangly intro, lots of "ah ah ohs," and lines like "I'll never smile as you walk me down the aisle."
On "Clay Pigeon," we get a guitar solo whose tone had me writing "Mascis" in my notes. There's the wide-open space feel again on "Another One for the Record Books," which even brings in some strings. "Maura & Dana" opens with an infectious riff and keeps up a hyperactive intensity through to the close of the album.
It's funny. I may not have even gotten to Big Quiet's email yet if it had come from some PR firm. If I had, I may not have listened to the album yet if I'd never noticed that it was produced by the man who's made some of the most meaningful records of my entire life. I did find my way to Big Quiet, though. Wouldn't you know it? It's one of my favorite records of 2015 so far.
Big Quiet release their self-titled debut tomorrow, March 28th. They'll be celebrating with a release show at Brooklyn's Pet Rescue that also features Scupper, Journalism, and Hamish Kilgour of The Clean.
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