| Pas/Cal |
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And people say The Shins sound like the Beach Boys? Put in Pas/Cal’s Oh Honey, We’re Ridiculous EP, and the falsettos will send you hurtling back to the Wilson Brothers’ heyday before you can say “chutes too narrow.” But even with the Pet Sounds vocal harmonies down pat, this isn’t surf-rock by a long shot. The first track, “What Happened To The Sands?” leaps seamlessly from a sunshine-pop bounce to a familiar Belle and Sebastian gallop that’s every bit as stylish as their “Bronzed Beach Boys” off of 2003’s The Handbag Memoirs. It’s true; Pas/Cal is the most Scottish sounding pop band in Detroit, replete with the necessary affected attitude and profound appreciation for all things bubblegum. Each song is founded on that fashionable framework and colors it with everything from orchestral-pop instrumentation to doo-wop choruses. And could that crunchy guitar noodling on “Poor Maude” be a nod to Vini Reilly’s stunning guitar-work on Morrissey’s “I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me?” It sure sounds like it. The sad tale of a 115 year old woman’s unintentional yet inescapable fame seems an unlikely if not sardonic topic for a song, but Pas/Cal camouflage it in harmonies and sing-a-longs well enough to turn it into a shimmery ballad, with the slightest traces of The Association’s “Windy.” That’s the most brilliant part of Oh Honey, We’re Ridiculous. Every time you listen through you can hear new influences pushing to the forefront, but nothing ever sounds forced or out of place. In fact most everything sounds calculatedly in place. The opening falsetto stretch on “What Do The American Girls Have On Jennifer Jojo” clinches it; Pas/Cal’s newest release is an elegant musical hybrid that sounds like a day spent outside with the sun shining a bit more brightly than usual. —Matthew
Stern
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