December Friend - Splendor Never Dies (self-released)

When Joel Leviton sings “gonna wrap myself in textures” as he does on “Textures”, the opening track on December Friend’s debut long player, he could just as easily be talking about the music he is making here. For it is the sort of music you hope everyone working at the intersection of indie and rock would make…but ultimately prove themselves not up to the task. With the release of Splendor Never Dies, December Friend has set a new benchmark for others to try to reach. Good luck with that.

December Friend is a sonic baby born of lockdown when Circus of the West’s Leviton contacted Minneapolis musical legend Jeff Victor and John Wlaysewski of Brooklyn -based band Late Cambrian to see if they wanted to help him turn his tentative songs into a polished finished product. They did. This is the result.

As soon as “Textures” kicks off, you realize that not only is Joel Leviton a fantastic songwriter, but this musical triumvirate knows how to cocoon a song in tempting tones and tantalizing texture…excuse the overuse of alliteration.

“Slow Smiles” is everything that indie music is about. Proper indie that is. Indie music is more than having all the fashionable designer labels, Jaguar guitars (you know they are only regarded as classics because they were cheap and the likes of Kevin Shields and Kurt Cobain were broke, right?), and complicated hair—much more. “Slow Smiles” could almost be your Little Red Book of indie music -the unhurried nature, the wonderfully wandering bass line, the space, the trebled-out guitars, the chiming riffs, the marvelous melodies, the glitch, and the groove. It’s all there. If you think that the likes of Oasis invented indie music, please stop reading now; this review isn’t for you.

“Always Something Special” is upbeat and chirpy, “B’s Magic Sound” is almost Beatle -esque…nothing at all wrong with that….and Skater Kid is surprisingly reserved; curveballs are always great, don’tcha think?

Calling an album lovely might give the wrong impression, but this is truly lovely. It’s many other things too – deftly wrought, full of great songs, slightly nostalgic, wonderfully out of step with fad and fashion (good!), occasionally hazy and drifting, full of great riffs and melodies, astute lyrics and effortlessly cool (without knowing how cool it is, which is the only way you can actually be cool). But if I had to choose one word, it would be that.

Lovely! (Get over yourself; not all guitar music has to be macho and rufty-tufty! (In fact, it’s better when it’s not. (Right, no more parentheses, I think I have used up my quota for today.)))

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