Sodo Pop

Grunge tried, but it couldnt quite kill off power pop in the early 90s. Instead of succumbing to downtuned riffs and heroin-spiked bleakness like so many bands, there were plenty of starry-eyed kids who skirted the edges of the scene, borrowing the heavy guitars while injecting sunny melodies, giant singalong hooks, and layers of bright vocal harmonies. Teenage Fanclubs underrated Thirteen album is one of the better examples of how good it sounded when power pop and grunge intersected, so is most of Weezers Blue album. There are plenty of other examples from the early 90s, and with Supercrushs SODO Pop, theres one from 2020. The bands leader Mike Palm no doubt spent a fair amount of time absorbing both grunge and power pop, because the re-creation of that magical point on the Venn diagram the band crank out is note-perfect. The chiming guitars, shimmering background vocals, and crystal-clear melodies are on loan from power pop; the booming bass, heartily bashed drums, and crunching rhythm guitars are taken from grunge. Add in some J. Mascis-y guitar leads that careen across a few of the songs, and the occasional bits of Matthew Sweet-styled balladry that come complete with pedal steel, and Supercrush score an early-90s bingo. To make it even more authentic, Palms lead vocals alternate between shoegaze breathiness and pop-punk brattiness, and most of the songs sound like they would have been standouts on the Clueless or Empire Records soundtracks. Get It Right is bubblegum sweetness with sugar sprinkles, On the Telephone is a perfect balance of overloaded guitars and sticky melodies, and I Didnt Know (We Were Saying Goodbye) melds melancholy with prettiness in heartbreaking fashion then tops it off with a guitar solo that drips like tears. Three songs in and power pop aficionados will start clearing space in their Top Tens -- its that good -- and the rest of the album, like the glam-stomp rocker Grace or the autumnal TFC-like I Cant Stop (Loving You) -- is no letdown. Palm and his band breeze through it like they were floating down a lazy river, soaking up the sun and hoping the day will never end. Every song is perfectly constructed out of pieces lifted from the past and repurposed into something fresh and compelling. Not only does it sound just right in 2020, it would have been at the head of the class in the 90s, too. ~ Tim Sendra