I can tell you very little about Travis Bretzer except that he's from Edmonton, Alberta, that he's released an album this year called Bubble Gum, which appears to be his fourth, that he played all the instruments on it himself and that it's very, very good indeed!
It sounds like a perfect approximation of all those great smalltown America Power Pop records of the seventies when everybody seemed to be doing this, rather than forming Garage Punk bands as they would have done ten years earlier. Think dBs, Shoes or The Rubinoos.
Plenty of people had done this before and have done so since but there's always room for one more, especially if its as accomplished as this definitively lo-fi record is. You could really trace its lineage back through Elliott Smith, in his sunnier moments, to Alex Chilton and back from him to Harry Nilsson and John Lennon.
Bretzer is a craftsman and Bubble Gum a treasure trove. Though it may not ever establish the reputation of Either /Or or Nilsson Schmilsson, (of course it won't), it will surely afford great pleasure to those who do happen to chance upon it. And I'm fortunate to be able to count myself among that number!
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