As Push Puppets’ fourth album, Tethered Together, hoves into view (16th May, since you ask), Erich Specht leads his sonic cohort to deliver a third enticing taste of what’s to come via the long-player’s third single, “Similar.”
What the Chicago quintet has always done so well, and what they certainly do here, is make music that echoes those heady days of the late 20th century, where rock energy and pop infectiousness were deftly woven together to create a vibrant and vital indie scene. And so, understandably, it isn’t hard to spot echoes of such great bands as Soul Asylum and Gin Blossoms, The Church, and for those with longer memories, perhaps even XTC at their most accessible.
But that was then, and this is now, and now is about taking the spirit of those times,, that era’s sonic vibe, and bringing it brilliantly up to date. This they do by embracing those great rock riffs and indie-pop infectiousness, pulling off a great balancing act of drive and deftness, and, in turn, blending that familiarity with a freshness which comes from beguiling electronica and cool keyboard runs.
And to make “Similar” stand out from the pack even further, here, they add a string quartet whose sonic graces and musical grandeur brilliantly pull everything even closer together, never intruding on the main thrust of the song but always wandering through the natural spaces in the music, a sort of blend of sonic glue and beautiful backdrop rolled into one.
What do you call a sound when it is both shimmering with classic familiarity and brimming with modernity and originality? When I think of the word, I will place it here!
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