 |
 Pernice Brothers-Overcome By Happiness |
| |
Pernice Brothers-Overcome By Happiness |
|
|
||||
|
Jan
1, 1999 | Entertainment Weekly Top 10
The
Greatest Overlooked Pop Masterpieces of the Decade
Jan
6, 1999 | NY Times Top 10 Albums of 1998 -Ann Powers
July 5, 1998 | Entertainment Weekly As the singer-guitarist for the defunct Scud Mountain Boys, Joe Pernice played slight, country-tinged lite-rock. Now he's moved on to another overdone subgenre: string-laden retro-pop. This time, however, the results are surprisingly strong. His new band's elegant piano foundation, irony-free songwriting, and musical debt to Nick Drake and Brain Wilson make them sound like a Ben Folds Five for adults. A-
Former Scud Mountain Boy Joe Pernice's latest album has already secured a place in most critics' annual Top 10. On Overcome By Happiness, this country boy's left the farm behind for greener pastures. On the back cover of Overcome By Happiness, the debut album by the Pernice Brothers, there's an intriguing black and white photo. It shows a clean cut boy with a woman, probably his mother, posed against a peaceful small-town America setting, circa late 1940's. They're both holding bows and arrows, and they're shooting at an unseen target. The picture says a lot about the gently wistful pop music within-highly melodic, string-laden songs that seem to belong to another time and place. And as a song-writer, Joe Pernice's arrows are aimed at the admirably lofty targets of his favorite sounds of the past. "I didn't really model the album after any one thing in particular," says Pernice, "but I suppose the music that I was listening to and loved had to bleed in somehow-the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Harry Nilsson, Nick Drake, and Velvet Underground are all bands I had in mind. "There's something about those earlier records. I think it's that they have songs that are real songs with memorable melodies. That's what I'm really attracted to and what I was trying to do." With one eye on yesterday, Pernice combines a classic approach to songwriting with a gift for intensely personal story-telling (Elliot Smith is my favorite contemporary songwriter," he says) on tracks such as "Crestfallen," "Sick of You," "Chicken Wire," "Wait to Stop," and "Ferris Wheel." Beneath the lilting musical arrangements lie tales of tears and tragic failure. Pernice is reluctant to reveal any information about these songs and says,"There's always embellishment and artifice in my songs, but they have a grounding in real life." For those who remember Pernice's former band, the y'alternative Scud Mountain Boys, the dark subject matter of the lyrics won't be a surprise, but the new twang-free sound may seem like an about-face. Pernice sees it more as an evolution. "I think we went as far as we could go stylistically (with the previous band) and it became very limiting," he says. "It was just time to move on. I'm not knocking that kind of traditional country music we were doing, but for me it was getting a little boring. I was thinking that a lot of the songs I was writing at the time were suited for things like strings and piano. Really I just wanted to expand the sound a bit and try different instruments and really indulge myself." With arranger/producer Michael Deming, Pernice and his band (which includes his brother Bob on guitar, New Radiant Storm King guitarist Peyton Pinkerton, drummer Aaron Sperske, and Lilys bassist Thorn Monahan) create the kind of chamber-y Baroque sound-scapes that populated AM airwaves in the late '60s. Think of songs like the Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee" and Badfinger's "Day After Day" and you have an idea of what the Pernice Brothers are aiming for. It was a real pleasure to be able to write a song and hear arrangements, different parts, to be able to chase them down and realize it," says Perncie. "It was a discovery of being able to flesh out ideas. In the Scud Mountain Boys, there had been a strong feeling among the band members that you should only make a record that can be performed live. It was very limiting. On this record, when I was writing, I was able to get a more thorough vision of the songs. " On tour this summer, the Pernice Brothers are performing as a five-piece. Though he admits to missing the lush surround sound of live strings and horns, Pernice says he's never been happier in his musical career. "I'm having so much fun on this tour, there's just nothing difficult about it. In the commercial sense, I guess I'm out of the loop as far as how this record is being received. But just to write songs and make records and indulge yourself in the studio-it's a great privilege. After all, I could be breaking rocks somewhere."
Aug 1998 | Amazon.com's Best of 1998 Joe Pernice is to the Eastern Seaboard what Elliott Smith is to the Pacific Northwest: anything but happy, the ex-Scud Mountain Boy forgoes the cowboy Bread covers and surrounds himself with Van Dyke Parks/Brian Wilson-like orchestral arrangements, singing sad, sad songs about suicide and dead love in his fragile warble. Strangely, this makes for a bright gem of a disc filled with 1973-AM-pop-radio-worthy jewels. --Paige La Grone Amazon.com Joe Pernice's former band, the Scud Mountain Boys, often dragged a kitchen table and chairs on-stage to replicate the homey feel of their spare and haunting music. Pernice's voice was lovely in that setting--his shy velvet voice floated over the stark horizon of the Scud's country-ish tunes. Here, though, he packs the stage with piano, cello, violin, tympanum, harp, trombone, and even a flugelhorn for a baroque wall of sound, and any hints of country are traded in for Bacharach. While the arrangements are beautiful, and Pernice continues to write amazing and evocative songs, his lovely wisp of a voice is hidden amid all the flowery flourishes. He used to sound lonely on the range, now he sounds lost in the forest. --Tod Nelson
|
|||||