Three years passed between OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY‘s 2006 LP Stay Happy and its 2009 opus Universal Malcontents, so I guess MATTHEW SMITH and co. feel obligated to step up the productivity a bit by returning to the record racks a little over a year later with Seemingly Solid Reality. OC’s records tend to be remarkably consistent, both in their psychedelic pop style and Smith’s unfailingly tuneful writing. The differences come in feel – some albums rock harder, some weirder, some spacier, etc. While Universal Malcontents revealed a hitherto unrevealed fondness for 70s glam, Reality focuses on the band’s melodic pop side, with just enough acid glaze to keep the music firmly in the Cherry tradition. It’s not unlike the APPLES IN STEREO, minus the sugar overload and the lo-fi detritus. The record’s even almost BEACH BOYS-like in spots, underscored by Smith’s vocal resemblance to MIKE LOVE. With cool, catchy tunes like “I Like It,” “Self-Made Monster” and “My Ghetto,” Seemingly Solid Reality is one of the most unpretentiously enjoyable items in Outrageous Cherry’s catalog.
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