Swedish Finnish - Swedish Finnish

Seattle’s finest indie label strikes again with a stellar collection of catchy pop tunes with a twist of lime that are destined to settle in your brain like earwigs for the rest of the summer. Their latest signing features partners Rod Moody (veteran of numerous local bands like The Fuzz and Swallow; we enjoyed the former’s 2015 Green Monkey release, Best Kept Secret) and drummer Tina Anderson, along with bassist Andy Hoggarth – also in The Fuzz), and all-around Seattleite scenester Scott Sutherland (Chemistry Set, The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, Roy Loney & The Longshots, and Green Monkey honcho Tom Dyer’s New Pagan Gods). Together they put fun and good times back in rock and roll. Hell, I haven’t had this much fun since Camper Van Beethoven’s recent California musical travelogues! (Although I don’ even think they could come up with something like the toe tappin’ singalong ‘Do You Speak Chinese’!)

Statement of purpose ‘Let’s Go Rock’ jumps out of the gate with a stomping little riff that’s part honkey tonk, part surf and 100% fun. There’s a C&W-inflected Rockpile vibe to ‘Don’t Do Anything (I Wouldn’t Do) that proves “It don’t mean a thang if it ain’t got that twang!” I hope Van Morrison has a sense of humour after hearing what they’ve done to ‘Gloria’ (cf., the garage shouter ‘I’m Leaving’); and we could all use a good cry now and then, and ‘My Baby Is Gone’ fills the bill quite nicely. As does 'Rain Must Fall', which reminded me of all the fun I had listening to Pete Stride and "Honest" John Plain's  Lurkers/Boys confab New Guitar In Town nearly 40 years ago! Sutherland brought a thing or three he picked up with the Longshots and dropped in all over the rabble-rousing guitar workout 'Wasting Time', and I also liked the T. Rex, boogie-woogie, gong-banging 'Mine Is Better'.

Granted, Moody could’ve used a few more voice lessons, but his (and the band's) hearts and heads are in it, and the bar band vibe will go down great with a few tallboys. If not, just listen to (the punny) ‘Hungover’ a few more times!