by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
Many fans of various genres want their artists to stick strictly to a certain sound they are most familiar with. As far as power pop goes, quite a few artists do actually stick to exactly that. Yet, sometimes bringing in a few variations actually refreshens both the genre, the ideas flowing, making music more adventurous and in that respect more listenable. For everybody. There is ample proof in that with For The Undertow, the fourth album by Philadelphia’s Psychic Flowers.
The man behind this project is one David Settle (The Fragiles, Big Heet, Under The First Floor podcast) who practically does more or less everything on this album with support from Leo Suarez (Carnivorous Bells, many solo improv projects). Favoring that lo-fi Guide By Voices type approach of recording anywhere you can, from basements to practice spaces, Settle does remix the material professionally (this time around Justin Pizzoferrato, who did this for Dinosaur Jr., among others) to give it a more polished sound while still retaining that buzz and rush his combination of power pop and punky garage creates.
Sure, this has been done before, but what sets Settle apart is his penchant for great melody and song lines. This is quite evident on almost all tracks here, particularly on the catchy “Spaceboy,” “Crashes and Crows,” and brief but extremely punchy “For The Record.” Throughout, Settle keeps his trademark of noisy guitars that envelope these melodies, coming up with yet another twist on what ‘real’ power pop should really sound like.