11.16.05
The Light Footwork
One State Two State
Welcome to the doldrum days of winter. If lately you’ve been feeling a hankering for an injection of wonderful sunny-pop from the now defunct band Beulah (who broke up awhile ago), you should all head over to The Light Footwork website and get musically medicated. Though their new album “One State Two State” is not out for a few more weeks you can listen to a few of the awesome tracks there, including “Coastlines are Landmines” and “Rapture Good Rupture Bad”. Side note: a pretty fun takeoff on Dr. Seuss for the cover…
The Beulah connection is no doubt heightened by the fact that the band features several members of that band playing on the album, though the main songwriters are Jay Underwood and Becca Wilhelm. Man, this stuff is the real deal… I’ve had the tracks on my Itunes on repeat for a couple weeks now and it gets better and better. It’s seriously good and while the resemblances to Beulah on songs like “Coastlines are Landmines” (a reference to the album “The Coast Is Never Clear”?) are uncanny, this is not a rehashing of the former lineup. The songs are deliciously structured indie pop pizza pies filled to overflowing with saucy instrumentation and stretchy melodies that aren’t cheesy at all. Haha, ok now I’m getting hungry…
I like how Becca’s vocal contributions tends to take the tracks in slightly different directions – that’s something extra I didn’t get with Beulah. I can’t remember who she reminds me of… it’s on the tip of my tongue. I want to say Shivaka Asthana from Papas Fritas or Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley but I know that’s not quite right.
I also feel like there’s a more laid back feel to several of the songs; they’ve almost got a Pavement thing going along with falsetto vocals thrown into the background at times. Whereas Beulah chugged along straightforwardly at times, The Light Footwork feel almost experimental at times (the track “$$” definitely qualifies as an experiment).
“The Art of Communication Part I” has cool vocals which sound very much like Tim Booth from James. “Docomo” was another favorite of mine with nice trumpet and piano. This is definitely a band to keep an eye on for those who enjoy the Elephant 6 Collective stuff…
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Oren Lavie
Gregg Yeti And The Best Lights
The Republic Tigers
The Transport Assembly
November 17th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
This album is simply amazing. I’ve Been listening to it for a long time. I love the Light Footwork!
November 17th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
Everyone should buy this album I mean they haven’t been out for a long time, but they’re already blown up into this awsome and very popular band. All of the songs are great, but a few stand out above the rest, Mensa AZ is one of the best songs out there and I say that as a fact not an opinion. The combination of Jay and Becca together gives you a great experience and combine that yet again with their awsome marketing skills and your sure to be hearing a lot more about The Light Footwork.
November 17th, 2005 at 9:13 pm
They are indeed cool… I like all the songs which is a rarity. What I want to know is why I haven’t heard of them till NOW… have Jay or Becca played in bands before? Also, are they planning on touring down in SoCal?
April 17th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
I believe Jay was part of the classic band from the College of William and Mary known as “Zack Morrissey.” Not sure about Becca though.