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Written
by Bradley Johnson, posted by blog admin
It’s
a powerful amount of self confidence that convinces any musician they shouldn’t
just cover one of the Beach Boys’ greatest songs but, instead, cover their
greatest album from beginning to end. Austin Carson has no compunctions. He
further increases his chances by surrounding himself with the cream of the
Minneapolis indie crop that enhance his own memorable efforts with equally
intelligent and inspired performances of their own. This album, A Tribute to
The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, ends up being a community effort in a way and
certainly reflects the outrageously high level of musical talent working out of
and banging their way around the Minnesota music scene. They are, to a man and
woman, performers and musicians who understand this material and uniformly
respect it. It is, however, equally clear that the aforementioned respect is
also the basis from which they are willing to remake the album in a way more
fitting of their personal purposes. It’s a staggeringly successful effort.
“Wouldn’t
It Be Nice?” has the same effect on the opening of YYY’s tribute as it does on
the original. It ushers listeners in to this musical world without any wasted
preamble and lays down some early “ground rules” of a sort. We can expect YYY
to use synthesizers and other keyboard based instruments to dramatic and even
cinematic effect, in essence creating soundscapes for listeners, while still
convincingly nailing down the vocal parts – if not outright, at least in
spirit. The earnestness of the speaker in “That’s Not Me” really comes through
in how YYY handles the song’s vocal and puts a spotlight on it as the key
factor in the song. Ornate and more traditional electronic fueled pop sounds
compete for their share of the aural landscape on “Don’t Talk” featuring the
talented Elle PF. The vocal stands out as the song’s sole consistent thread
from beginning to end as the arrangement explores a variety of interpretative
textures. There’s always a certain amount of wistfulness surrounding the
classic “Sloop John B” that covers often fail to capture but this isn’t one of
them. Instead, the elegiac spirit of the original comes through here in a clear
and sensitive singing performance with a musical arrangement tuned to just the
right sound and mood. Lydia Liza and Cool Moon are big difference makers on the
song “Hang On to Your Ego” and give it a distinctive sound compared to the original.
“Here Today” veers wildly from near ethereal synthesizer laced orchestrations
into stomping and joyous pop. The album’s title song affords YYY an opportunity
to craft a near virtuosic array of synth sounds into an expansive sounding, but
ultimately brief, near instrumental. It’s an excellent contrast to what he
offers with the last track “Good Vibrations”. Arguably the band’s most identifiable
song, YYY opts to keep some basic elements going from the original and Al Church’s
contributions on guitar are very tasty. His tribute album is much more than
mere tribute. It’s an emphatic statement about his own talents and aspirations
that sets the bar high for Austin Carson’s future.
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