Incoming - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

sslyby

With a pair of Irish shows just around the corner, what better time to introduce you to the melodious indie-pop of Springfield, Missouri’s Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin?

MEMBERS: Phillip Dickey - vocals/drums/guitar, John Robert Cardwell - vocals/guitar, Will Knauer - guitar, Jonathan James - bass
FORMATION: Springfield, Missouri
FOR FANS OF: The Shins, Ghosty, Pavement
CHECK OUT: Pershing, out now on Polyvinyl Records.
WEBLINK: www.myspace.com/boris

I think we’re all tired of stupidly convoluted band names by now, aren’t we? Cutting Pink With Knives, Dananananaykroyd, Cats and Cats and Cats… It’s getting silly. It must stop. This lot seemingly never got the memo.

But hang on a second. While the six words and ironic cultural reference in their name might lead you to expect brainy students, frantic riffage and time changes cribbed from the big spazz-punk songbook, you’d be wrong. Very wrong. For behind that misleading moniker lurks a band in love with melody. A band that cares not for fashion or posing. No, what we are dealing with here is a very American brand of indie-pop. At its heart, SSLYBY is a band of simple pleasures.

Hailing from the none-more-American-sounding Springfield, Missouri, the young four-piece have done it their way. Three years ago, they self-released a debut, Broom. Looking after promotion themselves, the band was picked up by Polyvinyl Records in 2006, and the record was re-released. This time, things really started to happen and, with relentless touring, the band’s work ethic and sparkling songs got them coverage anywhere they might have wanted it.

So for those that were on board early on, new album Pershing will fall into the ‘eagerly awaited’ category. It’s hard to see them being disappointed. From the feisty opener, ‘Glue Girls’, the band’s winning combination of sugar-sweet guitars, rough-edged harmonies and a restlessly inventive rhythm section comes up with the goods. Again and again.

‘Boring Fountain’ bowls along merrily, rocking out in an endearingly twee way. A jaunty trumpet gives the illusion of carefree happiness, even if the “by the way I feel nothing / by the way I feel sorry for you” refrain leads you to suspect that something’s not quite right in SSLYBY’s world. Later, the clever ‘Oceanographer’ gets busy with a contrived rhyme scheme (topographer, stenographer, photographer…), but the relaxed delivery and generally stellar songwriting wins them a get-out-of-jail-free card. As for the likes of ‘Some Constellation’ and ‘Think I Wanna Die’, gorgeous is barely the half of it.

This band at times recalls the caffeinated power-pop of Weezer and The Wannadies, but the comparison that will endure is with The Shins. We’re not saying they are quite of that calibre yet – few bands are – but there’s enough potential in the 35-minute runtime of Pershing to suggest that they aren’t beyond being mentioned in the same breath. Time will tell whether they get there, but it looks like there are going to be plenty of treats to enjoy along the way. Chris Jones

SSLYBY PLAY AUNTIE ANNIE’S, BELFAST, ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 AND THE HUB, DUBLIN, ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.

Issue #51 - I Told You This Would Be A Good Issue

Featuring Biffy Clyro, Of Montreal, Duke Special, Frightened Rabbit, Cold War Kids, Jay Reatard, Pat Mills, and more.