| Part Wolf Parade, sometimes Lunchbox (the impeccable indiepop band), and finally at home on K Records, Saturday Looks Good to Me load the album with quirk, energy and luminosity. Through the frenetic drumming and the oft-out-of-tune and frenzied vocals, the urgency of the album is reeled in after any such show of chaos. Prime example: "When I Lose My Eyes" begins innocently enough (the calm before the storm) with jangly guitars and a drum stampede approaching from the distance. Not until a minute in do we get the vocals, still a little calming, but then the strumming on the guitar is so fast and uncontrolled and we finally descend into a formative, crafted pop song. Then back again. There's a madman behind those drums, make no mistake about it. But then, once you get used to all the storm and chaos and at the 6:19 mark, you think, oh this is a little like Neutral Milk Hotel and then you're like, oh shit I can't take it anymore, my ears are too old for this. Wait it out, you've only got 30 seconds left. Then Fred Thomas comes in with acoustic guitar on "Make a Plan" and flattens that snare like it were a pancake. The tremolo guitar comes in and he drops a Belle & Sebastian-esque melody over the jangles and everything's calm again and you're listening to a pop song again. And it gets a little boring, unless you like to sing along. You can do that. After that, we're back to some more strums and little finger-pick-style straight-up Softies guitars for a quick minute. And maybe it's the guitar tones, or maybe it's the mix, but it's just a brief minute or so diversion until we get back to some more squashed drum sound. You know, like Fleetwood Mac. An obvious and loving homage to "Dreams", with just a little bit of that surf-guitar squeezed in there for good measure. The awkwardness of the vocals reaching for soul is a little funny, but it's a good kind of funny, and the track succeeds on its ability to create a dynamic soundscape; listen closely to the vocals and when they nix the reverb and bring them back into the mix, it's awesome! Just when you thought that it was over, we get treated to a little more pop goodness with some Cure-esque keyboards on the next track, "The Americans" and a orchestral and rhodes-driven melody with Marie Barnes's lovingly sad and sweet beckoning of "By the time you hear this tape, I will be gone / And I won't be back, so don't even ask" on "Hands in the Snow."" I feel like this album is a little like a Chile's menu: All over the place, but the variety is appreciated. Except the food here's much better. |