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This is the album that inspired our pal Chris to resurrect his long-dormant Jigsaw Records label, and it's definitely worthy of the effort! The Dutch Elms are part of an extended family tree of bands which is easier to show than to tell about (and even that chart is incomplete). They're a 4-piece with 3 songwriters (an almost-Sloan in that regard) who got together to knock out some jaunty songs with definite and deliberate reflections of the Beatles/Byrds/Kinks holy trinity of 60s pop.
The disc leads off with the super-catchy "Cleopatra" (coming soon to an indie pop mix tape near you) and finishes off with a trio of really strong tracks, and the other 7 on here are pretty dang good too. This is fairly simple and straightforward guitar/bass/drums pop with some touches of keyboard and nice vocal harmonies. The lyrics are pretty smart and clever, with some surprising depth for such a fun album, which keeps it from straying into cutesy or whimsical territory. It's nothing groundbreaking, but with tunes this undeniably excellent that hardly matters. This is definitely some of my favorite stuff that I've heard from this large and tangled family tree of bands. (mike.03.05)
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