Humdrum
Every
Heaven
(Slumberland)
The debut album, Every Heaven, from Chicago’s Humdrum is an indie pop dream come true. To get the easiest comparisons out of the way, if you were a fan of the band Star Tropics, who existed throughout the twenty-teens, yet only managed one full length LP, the incredibly infectious Lost World (Shelflife Records, 2017), the precursor and required listening for Humdrum, as bandleader/songwriter Loren Vanderbilt is the man behind both of these projects. In other words, if you loved Lost World, you will undoubtedly love Every Heaven,
Other comparisons and influences could be the entirety of the Sarah Records catalogue (1987-1995, 100 releases), or more specifically The Field Mice and their indie pop singles like “September’s Not so Far Away” as channeled through the jangles of early R.E.M. and the straightforward urgent bass lines of The Railway Children. I also keep thinking of the version of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s re-take of “The Hardest Walk” from the Some Kind of Wonderful movie soundtrack. This album is on the Slumberland Record label as well, so that alone is both an influence and a stamp of high quality.
There’s a dreamy sentimentality to these songs that creates a wonderful nostalgia for naïve times in our lives when our emotions are especially dramatic and unjaded by life’s experience. It’s so refreshing and familiar that there’s no way to not feel comfortable and at home listening to Every Heaven.
The title track is a brief instrumental opener with a pounding drum machine and an ever ascending exploratory feel that ends with a woman’s voice saying “What is it about this place? It’s like another world” before segueing into the very Field Mice-like “There and Back Again,” (another Sarah reference?) which is so unbelievably catchy that it’s kind of unfair. Loren’s vocals are friendly and humble sounding with a hint of emotion and maybe a dose of impatience or excited anticipation. The thing is that the next song “Superbloom” is every bit as addictive, as well as “Wave Goodbye,” with its cascading guitars and its spectacular bridge and chorus. I don’t know who does the backing vocals, but when they appear the harmonies are fantastic!
Side two does not let up at all, as “See Through You” surges with great energy and another perfect chorus, “Eternal Blue” evokes the greatness of The Cure’s timeless 1987 single “Just Like Heaven” (that keyboard!). Most of these songs are upbeat and exciting. The lower tempo songs add a nice dynamic, and more of those yearning keyboards that transport one to somewhere “a million miles away,” as repeated in “Ultraviolet.”
Every Heaven is an album that I cannot stop listening to. It feels like I’ve been listening to these songs all of my life and the songs always feel like a soothing balm to any kind of ills. Like visiting with a longtime friend. The kind of friend one can relate to no matter the passage of time..
(https://heyhumdrum.bandcamp.com/album/every-heaven)
Heck Yeah
ReplyDeleteGreat tune. Thanks for that.
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