Pseudosix
Label: Sonic Boom
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Pseudosix
It’s telling that the liner notes to Pseudosix offer up a shout-out to the basements ‘in which so much music is invented,â?� because this Portland, Ore.-based group radiates an organic reclusivity that suggests Built to Spill if they were bingeing on ’70s country and soft rock in a dank cavern. Frontman/guitarist Tim Perry possesses a warm-‘n’-fuzzy vocal tone that complements brown slacks and wood-paneled station wagons, and he spends a great deal of time using it to express his desire to be left alone. ‘I wanna live in an enclave/Separate from the rest/We’ll keep a permanent distance/While everything on the other side’s a mess,â?� he monotones on ‘Enclave,â?� as mellow, red-velvet pop spreads around him like a pool of blood and bluesy guitar figures trigger angel-choir harmonies. As one might expect, there’s plenty of practiced lethargy, peeking out through closed blinds, agonizing over friendships and sleepy piano to go around; it’s surprising, though, how much empathy the abominably named Pseudosix elicits.
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2007.