my power pop addiction, no. 33 (105)

They must secretly put something in the water in the South Pacific because so many great pop bands have emerged from Australia and New Zealand. You’ve got Martin Phillips and the Chills. Chris Knox and Tall Dwarfs. The Clean. The Bats. Crowded House. The Go Betweens… And lots more that I know less well. Maybe it’s the case that power pop takes hold in Anglophone British colonies but not in England itself. Something about the satellite experience transforms the Beatles and the British Invasion into a different but closely related animal. I don’t know. I’m shooting in the dark here. It could just as easily be random happenstance. …Of all the bands from that region of the world, the Someloves, from Perth, are my favorite. It’s like I was saying last night: They’re almost too good. They do everything a guitar pop geek wants and needs. Their best songs have two, three and sometimes four multi-tracked guitars, each one as clear and high up in the mix as can be. The tambourines elevate the dramatic vibe of the music in the manner of all the best power pop. And the harmonies are just right. If I have one quibble it’s that some of the songs are too long. A great pop song should never be more than four minutes, and you should really try to compress it into three minutes if you can. I think the thing with the Someloves is that they have so many great ideas, and it feels like they want to make sure they get to all of them in every song, but the effect sometimes is to make it all too much, if that makes sense. It’s like eating chocolate or hot dogs. You eat one and it’s the greatest fucking thing you’ve ever tasted in your life. You eat two and it’s still pretty good but maybe a little excessive. Eat three and you feel sick. The Someloves will never, ever make you sick with their music, but some of the songs can be overwhelming. Pop shouldn’t overwhelm. Leave the overwhelming to progressive rock. Something like Good Vibrations might be overwhelming, but only because its so tight and compact. The whole point of great pop is to create a quick burst of euphoria, and that’s it. Make it so that I want to hear the song again. I’ll listen to a three-minute song numerous times, back to back to back. A five-minute song, not so much. But this is really only a very minor criticism. The Someloves create a sunshiny romantic vibe with their music. Everything’s beautiful down under. Everything’s groovy...