REVIEW: Emmet Swimming, Big Night Without You (Epic)
- Scott Slonaker
Taking up residence somewhere on the musical landscape between a more earnest Barenaked Ladies and the Southern guitar-pop of the Connells and Better Than Ezra are Fairfax, Virginia's Emmet Swimming, now four albums old with the release of their third major-label record.
No, this band does not break what one would term "new" musical territory. Emmet Swimming trades heavily in catchy, passionate, vaguely rootsy barroom rawk that can be compared to such a huge variety of things that it's not worth bothering to try and peg it exactly. Music like this is best evaluated on the quality of its individual songs, and Big Night Without You scores rather well on that scale.
The opening track, "Guru", has one of those utterly perfect fifteen-second intros that sounds made for the radio. Singer Todd Watts does a wonderful job sounding impassioned without oversinging (paging Mr. Rob Thomas, please) and the pretty, Big Star-ish guitar chimes, courtesy of guitarist Erick Wenberg, make the song a perfect four-minute sampler of the band's strengths.
After the stellar opener and the fine "Fist Like a Glove" (dig those "woo-hoo-hoo" vocal harmonies) establish the sound, it is up to the band and producer Peter Collins (Jewel, Indigo Girls, Cardigans) to keep the song-based album fresh by walking the tightrope between variety and schizophrenia, and both, especially Collins, rise to the challenge. ("Off Key Choir" features backing vocals that are appropriately grating, and there are fun vocal samples injected into "Stealing From the Joneses".)
Big Night Without You ends, oddly enough, with its single. "Sunblock" is obviously meant as a summer hit, and it succeeds wildly. Save Ferris lend their horn section, Wenberg stomps on his guitar's "skank" pedal, and the whole group jumps in on the "I'm goin' on a big vacation" chorus. It may not sound quite like the rest of the record, but who cares?
Emmet Swimming have managed to steadily increase their fan base over four albums without the benefit of anything closely resembling a hit single through extensive touring, and it is nice to see a major label ease off on the pressure that is so often placed on emerging acts to write that hit. Not only may Emmet Swimming have written that hit, they've put together a well-written, solid album that deserves its moment in the sun. If Matchbox 20 can do it, so can these guys.
