I was lucky enough to grow up in a time when the realms of rock, the world of pop, and the formative indie sound all seemed to mix and merge happily. Pop music was as likely to be made by people wielding guitars and loud amps as by synth players wearing loud shirts. Despite us being in more adventurous, post-genre times, this seems no longer the case. Or at least it would if bands like The Melancholy Kings didn’t make precisely the sort of music that ruins my argument!
For this is pop. But it is pop made from jangling, killer guitar lines, kick-ass drums, bopping basses, and singalong choruses. No dance routines, no guest rappers, no gimmicks, just quality pop music writ large…and groovy! It sounds like alt-rock, but it feels like pop music, ticking all the boxes for infectiousness, accessibility, fun, and groove along the way.
“Six Feet Down” ushers the album in with a ’60s vibe, or at least a Paisley Underground feel, that early eighties scene that took that earlier era’s torch and ran with it.
Recent singles “Victoria” and “Bitcoin Elegy” follow hard on its heels, the former a rocker full of spiralling guitar lines and perfectly placed power chords, the latter a stomping, gnashing, infectious alt-rock missive on isolation and disconnection in the digital age.
“Kensington” is the sound of the band trading in their usual energy for ethereality, a melancholic (natch!) balladic beauty, “UV” is colored with no small amount of late-era Beatles finesse, and “Alex Bell” is charming, chiming, shimmering, and leaning towards the psychedelic.
Although moving in the same circles of the 90s-noughties NYC indie scene, Mike Potenza and bassist Scott Selig were unknown to each other before joining forces, fleeing the rat race and rededicating themselves to music, picking up drummer Paul Andrew and guitarist Peter Horvath along the way. And thank the gods of music they did. Not only is Her Favorite Disguise an album packed with brilliant songs, but it is also proof that pop music isn’t just the bastion of synth-wielding, sample-stealing, lowest common denominator kids; sometimes it is the product of seasoned, guitar-slingers.
Album links
Spotify
Apple Music
Victoria
Bitcoin Elegy
