I compare too many contemporary artists to Elliott Smith. I really do. But it happens a lot in my listening experience. Often, I'm listening to an album that might be fairly nondescript when something I'm hearing grabs my attention and makes me think of Elliott.. A chord change, a lyrical turn, when a song twists suddenly from the light into darkness and I'm reminded of his deeply special talent and I immediately start to listen to the record I'm listening to with increased attention. I'm glad he's made such a lasting mark.
This very thing happened to me a moment ago while I was half listening through to Stockholm's, The Last Days of April's latest album Even The Good Days Are Bad. It's not a bad record really, though the production is a bit shrill for my tastes and the band's frontman Karl Larsen doesn't have a voice I particularly warm to. The band work in the Elliott, Grandaddy tradition of melodic turns of euphoria and melancholy without quite having the songs to pull off everything they want to.
Most things here go back beyond Elliott, to his original inspirations Big Star and The Beatles. The record veers on Power Pop occasionally in its more upbeat moments. There's plenty here that generally appeals to me and I think it could have been a record I would have warmed to more had the production been a little more sympathetic. Not a disaster all told, in fact there's much to admire here, but one I think could have been a whole lot better given the consistently solid nature of its songs.
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