Souvenir Driver really drives home all the best parts of psych pop. It is a sleepy, sunlit little record that rarely gets intense. Everything appears to be a half-remembered dream. The melodies float on by, the vocals are unassuming, and the tempo never reaches any particularly fast pace. Mellow rock never sounded this good.
The instruments stay subdued for the most part, with the exception of “Belief” which is an energetic blast of pop. A number of seven minute plus songs linger on the album, these happen to be some of my favorites. In particular, “Ecstatic & Dull” I adore. A bass snakes around and the whole thing possesses a driving groove to it. Personally the bass reminds me of Suicide’s bass line from “Frankie Teardrop” so that may have something to do with it. Another favorite would be the downright happy “Mountains” which, while active, appears to have that cheerful energy one has after waking up to a beautiful morning. “Touching” the opener has a lone guitar which is heavily reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s most optimistic moments. It is a sweet beginning to a rather charming collection of songs. Most of these were produced in Nate Wey’s bedroom, which may explain the pleasant sleepy vibe present on nearly every song. There’s something reassuring by how comfortably these tracks seem to sprawl.
All of this is quite enjoyable. Nothing Nate does is remotely unlikable. Pacing is good. There’s a decent amount of lower to higher energy songs on here, alternated as needed. Overall, Joy is a charming sleepy pop record.
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ReplyDeleteMany thanks good sir.
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