If the previous single, “Eyeballs,” showed that J.J. Chamberlain had the knack of weaving together jangling indie music that touched both on rock’s more energetic drive and pop’s infectious bop, the new one, “Thoughts,” proves that this wasn’t a fluke—anything but.
Sonically, this new one carries on where “Eyeballs” left off and also takes its signature sound to new places. If the previous one moved on a hazy, cosmic wave, similar to the one that drove bands like House of Love to underground success, “Thoughts” has a more robust but no less ornate feel. The guitar lines are perhaps thicker, the beat meatier, and the sonics more coalesced into less drifting, more condensed structures, but still spacious enough to let the light in, allowing for the perfect separation of sound, which, in turn, allows everything to breathe and do its job effectively.
And if the guitar work seems more robust, closer examination reveals that it is because he has placed layer upon layer of gossamer thin tones and delicate textures to form these seemingly more weighty sonics, like a strong rope being woven from many mellifluous silk threads. Saftey in numbers, beauty by design!
But “Thoughts” is not only sonically smart but lyrically astute, too. The thoughts in question relate to those darker and more dangerous feelings and emotions that raise themselves up, unbidden in all our minds from time to time. Or, as the writer himself describes it, this is “a mental health anthem posing as a pop song.”
And in this more enlightened yet increasingly troubled age, the timing could not be more perfect.
