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My anticipation has been high for the new record from Kelley Stoltz. I’m a relative newbie to his music that I somehow missed despite adoring his wheelhouse genres of power pop and psyche pop, and living in his town of San Francisco for nearly 20 years.
I fell hard for the first song I ever heard by him. “Some Other Time” off the ”Ah! (Etc)” LP (Agitated, 2020) is power pop perfection, recalling elements of the many artists and bands I’ve treasured in the genre, from Flamin’ Groovies to Jason Falkner to The La’s.
The new one, “La Fleur” is Kelley’s 18th album. Out June 7th on Dandy Boy Records in the US and Agitated in Europe/UK, Kelley has spent the past two years writing and recording. The rich 12-song collection is dense enough to want to enjoy a little at a time. The opening track, “Human Events” grabbed me enough to want to hit replay a few times before moving on to track two, “Victorian Box”; another groover saturated with a bouncy bass riff and synths.
What caught my eye in reading the press release about “La Fleur’’ was that Stoltz is “once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album, though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, ‘Hide In A Song’ and ‘Make Believer’ respectively.”
“Hide in a Song” is indeed everything I search for in a great guitar-driven, jangle-pop song. See for yourself. Stoltz’s vocals are characteristically a bit low in the mix, especially in his lower register, but it just makes me want to listen more closely. Put on your headphones, go for a walk on a sunny day, and put this tune on repeat.
Fans of Falkner know he too often performs his LPs by himself to great effect, but his output has ceased in recent years as he toured with Beck and focused on other activities. Hearing that these two gents would collaborate definitely got my adrenaline running and I hope to hear more with Jason’s involvement. “Make Believer” has a decidedly LA canyon-rock sound (e.g., GospelbeacH) woven in to Moody Blues trippy 60’s psychedelia.
As with many Stoltz albums, he meanders, spinning fractals of 60’s psyche, late 70’s and early 80’s post-punk, and 80’s power pop into his sound. “Losing My Wild” is a perfect illustration, with morphing shimmers of The Cars, Ultravox, Devo, and some sort of glam-rock gene fed through a stoned-out Smithereens song structure. It works to great effect. Robyn Hitchcock may have worn off of Kelley too, which makes sense as the two toured together in 2023.
As Stoltz tells it, the album’s first single “Reni’s Car” is a jangle-rock fever dream based on an actual event, as he rode around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer John “Reni” Wren)’s car. Oh, to have been a backseat passenger on this trip.
“Awake in a Dream” has a 60’s groove, as with many of Kelley’s tunes, but little guitar effects take listeners to other places. The main guitar riff has a dark edge and tone much like those of Killing Joke’s Geordie (RIP), rendering a lush gothy effect to the track. Later in the song, melodic, up-the-neck slashing guitar chords remind me Will Sargeant’s work with Echo & The Bunnymen.
Something about the chorus and melody on “About Time” also takes me on a bit of a later-period Echo trip. Oh, and the acoustic guitars on this song get a nice high-in-the-mix feature in this song that Kelley says is “a cautionary tale to [his] young daughter.”
Kelley’s playing a few dates in June, including supporting Echo & The Bunnymen, who he’s toured with as a guitarist. On June 13, he’ll be playing in San Francisco at The Chapel for his ”La Fleur” record release gig, along with fellow janglers Chime School, and Maaya. He heads to Norway and the UK for July shows.
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