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Brendan Benson
Lapalco
Star Time
brought to you by M.

The first song I heard from Brendan Benson’s new album Lapalco was "Want", with its bouncing bassline and catchy little refrain, "With a not so pretty face, he’s gonna take my place." As I was walking around a department store in southern Japan trying on wool hats, and wondering just how this department store got hold of such a musical gem before me. Dissatisfied with the hat selection, I remained in the store, walking around, listening to the music while mindlessly pawing hot pink ashtrays and inflatable pillows. Fifteen minutes later, I bought the album.

Since the liner notes provide little information on the artist or the songs, I set out to do my own research. This new album Lapalco, is Detroit-rocker Brendan Benson’s follow-up to his 1996 debut "One Mississippi", which seems to have been well-received, despite Virgin dropping him from the label. A decision they will surely regret, if they don’t already. I would.

Listening to the track, "Folk Singer" started my love affair with the album. "Don't have time for a bed-in/She said, stop pretending/You’re not John Lennon". And although he’s right - he’s not John Lennon - it’s easy to hear the influences from Lennon’s post-Beatles days, especially on songs like "Metarie," with its slow crescendo. Other songs like "You’re Quiet" use a lighthearted keyboard melody, recalling 80’s bands like The Cars. The album itself is all around pop fun, with simple, rocking melodies and jangly original guitar for which indie music has become so well known. There’s no doubt Brendan built these songs to stick in your head. I find myself biking around town singing, getting strange looks from the Japanese folks in my neighborhood, who, by this time, are pretty used to giving me strange looks. Isn’t that what good pop music is supposed to do? Stick in your head, forcing you to sing it over and over again, while feeling pretty good about your life and the world in general, no matter how bad the weather? Okay, maybe that’s a little much, but with upbeat songs like "Tiny Spark" and "Want" it’s hard to resist listening to this album again and again.

Brendan’s voice is neither amazing nor annoying. It falls right into that, I’m-not-really-trying-to-sing-but-I-still-sound-pretty-good style. However, I found some of the back-up vocals to be a little cumbersome, bordering on jarring, but this may be more a result of my crappy stereo than anything else. It’s easy enough to ignore, and probably won’t bother anyone with a real system.

Once I listened to this album, it seemed to become cemented into my CD player. It’s still in my CD player now. I can’t stop listening to it, nor can I shake the feeling that this guy personally knows each and every one of my ex-boyfriends. Or that maybe he is an ex-boyfriend. Lyrically, Brendan tends to focus on one subject; girls. Meeting the girl. Losing the girl. Never getting the girl in the first place. Most of the time, his lyrics are light and clever, only occasionally bordering on hokey. "I need a pick-up and I don’t mean truck" is a little too cute for me. But such small incidents are easy to dismiss when the entire album is so airy and smart.

Although this isn't the most amazing thing I've heard in ages (is anything really amazing these days?) Lapalco is super fun to listen to, and put it succinctly, this album wins.

Now, I just have to find a department store that plays "One Mississippi."

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