REVIEW: pApAs fritAs, Buildings & Grounds (Minty Fresh)
- Chris Hill
The third time must be the charm, as album number three from pApAs fritAs is embarrassingly rich with sugar-coated pop tunes. Drummer/vocalist Shivika Asthana's graceful poise and guitarist/vocalist Tony Goddess' light yet masculine tones make a yin and yang of formidable power. With bassist Keith Gendel adding to the singing duties, lush harmonies pervade the album, equaling 13 tracks with nary a throwaway among them.
"He said/she said" songs being personal favorites, "Way You Walk" smote like a thunderbolt on first listen. The Human League's "Don't You Want Me", Lush's "Ciao!", and now this song: perfect examples of the moments when love and blame intermingle, and the different perspectives give air to their grievances. He: "I can tell by the way you walk/You wanna be alone with him." She: "Why do you make up all these stories?/Made up your mind, decided for me". He: "Will you tell him all the special things/ You told me you could never say?" She: "If I go, I won't be lonely/If I stay now you don't own me." Sheer heaven, by words alone. Add a sweet acoustic guitar solo, hand claps, and an insanely boppy keyboard riff and the confection improves. An album destined for summer road music, Buildings and Grounds radiates sunshine. "There's shots to take and plans to make/There's candy bars and pizza to chew", Goddess sings in "Another Day", a bouncy urging of "carpe diem" conviction. This feeling springs up again on the waltzing "Girl", a devotional dedication of love. Even the melancholy "I'll Be Gone" looks at the brighter side of breaking up: "Draw the blinds/Let the sunshine find a way.../We're not walking together/And now I'm feeling alright."
"It's Over Now" is a momentary squall, as Asthana sifts the ashes of love for answers: "Every time I think of you, I stop and wonder why/It's over now, it's time to say goodbye". Rainstorms pass, and brighter climes reappear: R. Buckminster Fuller would be pleased with Gendel's contribution to the album, "Vertical Lives". Its assertion that "Only geodesic domes can save us now" is made structurally sound by a stomping drum beat and clapping hands.
The band, with Goddess being the primary songwriter, has an ability to mix in familiar elements that get the song's foot in the aural door: be it the Brady Bunch lollipop bliss of "Questions", the Rentals' sing-song of "Vertical Lives", the Fleetwood Mac background vocal/guitar/keyboard ambience of "People Say", or the Scud Mountain Boys' croon of the closer "Lost in a Dream". Familiarity breeds instant welcome here, not contempt.
It's rare that a male and female singer match up as well as Asthana and Goddess. Prop Asthana's "You were always quiet/I was always cold/Walking there beside you/Promises were gold" against Goddess' "But now you say you've grown/So tired of being alone/Ask me did I wait/I believe in fate" and the vulnerability is equally conveyed by both sexes. Listen particularly to Goddess in the above lines from "I Believe in Fate", as his voice progressively strains on each line to impart the emotion, with fantastic success.
As the seasons change, summer will always be close, thanks to discs like this. "Pop has freed us", indeed. Surf warning: http://www.mintyfresh.com and http://www.papasfritas.com
