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Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s third record opens with co-frontmen John Robert Cardwell and Philip Dickey singing in their similarly comfortable and youthful voices, “We’re going to make it last.” At album’s end, on “Made to Last,” Cardwell laments, “Nothing’s made to last these days.” In between lies a surprisingly touching tale of four dudes dealing with the disappointments of growing up—both in life and in a rock band (with a silly name).
Upon its arrival in 2005, SSLYBY was heralded as a next big thing, an indie act that could shake Natalie Portman to the core like the Shins. It didn’t work out quite that way, and thank goodness. The humble quartet kept chipping away in Springfield, Missouri, home of absolutely nobody of note, and has crafted a self-reflective suite on being left behind that sits well alongside its big brother, the Wrens, kings of turning maladroit living into bittersweet pop.
The lyrics offer fantastic frank lines on dealing with the industry: “‘Is that really your name?’… We’re circling around the critical drain” and “I’ll let you suck my blood if you want to know how I taste.” With jangling, buzzing, chugging, twanging and scruffy guitars, the music (produced by Chris Walla) is the epitome of all that can be great about college rock and power pop, so well crafted and pleasant it’s easy to take for granted. Or mistake as Canadian.
On one standout track—over hand claps, splashing drum rolls and upbeat guitar lines—the Midwesterners advise, “You gotta let it sway.” Rolling with the punches rarely feels so fun.
SSLYBY hits Lincoln Hall on Thursday 2.
