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The Great Lost No Ones Album
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Quantity in Basket:
None
Price: $15.00
Artist:
The No Ones
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In
their ongoing effort to make a record with every cool musician on earth, Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey were appearing at a
music festival in Norway when they met Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen and Frode Strømstad, half of the Norwegian
indie pop band I Was a King. Before long, the four were comparing notes on
songs and trading ideas back and forth, the result being the 2017 EP Sun Station, which they
credited to The No Ones. They liked the
finished product well enough to try it again, and after spending five days
together in a recording studio, the result is The Great Lost No Ones Album. As this pedigree almost dictates, they wield Fender and Rickenbacker
guitars, cutting, chiming and fuzzing their way through songs dealing with
abduction, interstellar mysteries, witchcraft, and more mundane fare like
climate change, gentrification, and the desolation of the soul. The vocal
harmonies and psychedelic flourishes fuse the sunny turbulent sounds of the 60s
with the darkness and decay of today. Features guest appearances from Darren Hanlon, Patterson Hood (Drive
By Truckers), Debbi Peterson (Bangles),
along with Andrew Rieger and Davey Wrathgabart (both of Elf Power). Since McCaughey wrote the lyrics
and sings most of the leads, the record sounds a lot like the Minus 5, but a Minus 5 with an abundance
of tough, buzzy guitar figures and more emphatic tempos than one might usually
expect. Mathisen's drumming is more
aggressive and a bit splashier than Buck and McCaughey's usual
collaborators, and Strømstad is an excellent guitar
foil for Buck, with bursts of
fuzz and clouds of feedback adding texture to the expected jangle, especially
on (Going Back To) Stockholm Syndrome, which sounds like the midpoint between
Frosting on the Beater-era Posies and Dinosaur Jr. Melodically, the album isn't a dramatic
departure from what McCaughey and Buck usually do with the Minus 5, though all four
band mates co-wrote the music, and the lyrics display McCaughey's typical darkly
shaded wit, especially on Straight into the Bridge and Sweet Home
Mississippi. Cinnamon Roll Hair is a
heartfelt love letter to the late Carrie Fisher. Buck and McCaughey could seemingly
make a good album in a couple of days between naps, but Mathisen and Strømstad bring enough
different flavors to the formula to make The Great Lost No Ones Album stand out from
their strong body of work, and anyone who loves pop hooks and strong guitars
should give this a listen. AllMusic.com
GREAT!!
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