Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Annual Greatness

The time has come to talk about More Songs About Her, the 2012 release by Secret Powers. It is the band's fifth album – and the fifth excellent album in a row. Not every band releases five albums this good in (less than) five years! I don't seem to be able to stop listening to these albums anymore...

Compared to What Every Rose Grower Should Know (2011), many songs on the new album seem to have a slightly more serene feel. Still, More Songs About Her rocks just as hard as the band usually does. Secret Powers don't really change their sound: there is nothing to fix as the sound is already perfectly balanced. Shmedly's studio and his fantastic talent as a producer is definitely one of the band's greatest assets. On a Secret Powers album there are always lots of nice additional details that enhance the overall sound. Be it strings, organ, piano or something else, everything is perfectly in its place.

And not only is Shmedly impeccable in the studio, he has once again written about half of the songs and they are all brilliant. Ryan Farley's Running at This Pace is also really catchy, and I especially enjoy him singing Shmedly's Not That Kind of Girl, another song with perfect solo guitar work. John Brownell, the new guy, has provided three songs. Post War with the fantastic Allman Brothers guitars is one of my favorites. Impossible Girl has some real kick, and Caroline towards the end of the album is a nice slow song with rather disturbing lyrics...

Every other song that I haven't mentioned yet is also great. There are absolutely no weak moments on this album. The obvious highlight is Hard to Be Someone, a supremely sympathetic song that sounds a lot like Shmedly's personal anthem and quite a tribute to his downshifting lifestyle. Superb!

However, Troy Warling is not on this album. I miss Troy...

Secret Powers bandcamp

3 comments:

Rich Horton said...

I think "Caroline" is about a dog (or a cat I guess) in a shelter.

Maybe it isn't, but its a hell of a lot less disturbing if you think of it that way!

Melody Freak said...

Yeah... I never thought of that. Thanks, Rich. I have never been very good with lyrics, English not being my mother tongue and stuff. So I often hear things wrong and sometimes the result can be quite interesting - such as in this case! I wish every CD would come with printed lyrics.

Unknown said...



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