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| Pitchfork |
 Since Free Energy popped up on the grid a year ago, they've seemed out of place in a good way. No matter how flexible the definition has always been, they are not what you might call an "indie rock" band. It started with the five Philadelphians' first mpfree single last spring, "Dream City". The song is a distinctly American take on glam-boogie that immediately brings to mind teenage imagery: cruising around with friends late at night; inhaling bad beer way before you legally should; bottling the kind of wide-eyed, wild-haired feeling that galvanized Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. It has a huge, classic rock hook. It's frothy and light and waxed to a shine. It is both hopelessly hopeful and unabashedly corny. It is also really, really fun.The rest of Stuck on Nothing, their long-incubating debut full-length, doesn't hold back either. Produced by James Murphy (and released on DFA, his braintrust for New York dance/cool), it's stuffed with equally ham-fisted hooks and melodies, all of which hit their marks without apology or guile. The band (formerly members of the Pavement-worshipping St. Paul, Minn., outfit, Hockey Night) hooked up Murphy simply by sending him demos of all the songs here. Since then, he took them into the studio to flesh everything out. And flesh he did: from cowbell to strings to Hammond to sax, 1970s studio flourishes gussy up all corners of the recording. The guitar sounds are rich and creamy, the bass fat and warm. In a way, Murphy's production work here is such an intergral part of the vibe, he comes off as a sixth member of the band. Everything pops, but the gloss never makes the songs here feel processed or too glossy. It simply fits them well....full text |
| Prettymuchamazing |
| Philadelphia foursome Free Energy’s much-hyped debut album, Stuck on Nothing, is what you would put on in your car if you were escaping from somewhere boring. It’s driving, cathartic, danceable, youthful, the kind of record you would put on a couple miles down a monotonous highway to wake you up, spur you to roll down the top, get you doing an awkward dance in your seat. This seems like Free Energy’s whole M.O. – let’s do something to feel good. Let’s do something to be happy. Let’s do something to get away. “We’re breaking out this time,” Paul Sprangers croons in the album’s first five seconds. “We’re gonna start a new life.” With hooks this irresistible, bright power-pop instrumentals, and an overwhelming sense of positivity, it’s impossible not to believe him. Free Energy’s melodic chops are best suited to the upbeat power-pop jams they serve up in the record’s first half – the Guitar Hero wailing of “Free Energy,” the “Boys are Back in Town”-esque chord progressions and incongruous saxophone licks on “Dream City,” and, best of all, the infectious big drum beats and syncopated vocal on album standout “Bang Pop,” which has all the pop sensibility to qualify it for daily rotation on Z100. Some of the slower tunes, like “All I Know” and the joyous explosion of album closer “Wild Wind,” manage to hold their own weight, helped along by the band’s masterful waily guitars and loud drums. Sprangers’ voice is warm, calm, and something about it is identifiable – or maybe it’s just his lyrics, which are always sweet, heartfelt affirmations: “You’re not alone!” The electric, infectious positivity conveyed through both music and lyrics is Free Energy’s greatest strength....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| The initial point of interest for Free Energy’s Stuck On Nothing is that LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy produced the Philadelphia band’s first full-length LP. Aside from that generally important if not superficial detail, the band has a sound that even without the hand of the dance-punk lord gently guiding it along is equal parts hard to categorize and one long, gleeful road trip down rock’s music last 30-some-odd years. It’s abundantly clear with a lot of their song titles and their band name in general, they’re going for a much more ‘late 60s commune vibe (without being too hippie about it). That level of sheer positivity is abundantly clear throughout the album, especially in that each track maintains a joyous, upbeat swing. But they’re not total flower kids; the synth line in “Light Love” is the definition of finding a groove, albeit in the band’s own pace, and “Hope Child” breaks down and builds up in the weirdest ways imaginable, with the only constant being a transcendental chorus of voices. And a track like “Bang Pop” takes that singing to the Universe vibe, with each instrument informing the call back of the other, and forges it into a blazing pop gem....full text |
Free Energy lyrics
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