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| Pitchfork |
 Familiarity can be a crutch, or a comfort; in the case of Ames, Iowa's Poison Control Center, it's very much the latter. Something about Sad Sour Future, their slack-but-sturdy double LP, is bound to set off a lightbulb or two in the head of anybody who's ever made it through a few Superchunk records. Their rangy, restless guitar tangles harken back to the brainy, punchy work of the Chunk, Archers of Loaf, Pavement and the like. Primary singer Patrick Fleming's got one of those classic indie dude voices, insistent and a little pinched, and the other guys fall in nicely. (Devin Frank does a mean David Berman.) Even Sad Sour Future's analog production lends the proceedings a loose-fitting, era-appropriate warmth. But whereas most throwback acts are content to take a loan out on every last thing, personality included, Poison Control Center are far too sharp and self-assured to need a lender on anything that vital; lax and charming, these tunes feel fresh even when the music veers a tad out of time.PCC are dabblers; their past work ran a weirdly effective gamut from Les Savy spaz to the more ornate Elephant 6 stuff, and while they're certainly pounding the Pavement a lot harder on Sad Sour Future, touches of Beulah-style horn flare ups and Tullycraft twee run ideal interference on all the goldbricking. Songs circle back on themselves, winding melodies into countermelodies into even more melodies; what seems at first limber and casual reveals itself as carefully considered and pretty crafty, with hooks duking it out among the myriad guitar interjections. The hour-and-change runtime means nobody's checking their watch, and these songs feel wonderfully unhurried-- guitar solos seem to bleed out of the tracks, horns tumble into the frame, tempos stroll, and Fleming occasionally lets his singing fall just behind the beat, all to fine effect. Theirs is an agile sound, neither overeager or overblown, and even when things get to feeling a little familiar, the knotty melodies and judicious instrumental touches carry the songs over....full text |
| Slantmagazine |
| Buy at:Amazon | iTunes 19 Share The Poison Control Center Sad Sour Future ***½ by Luke Winkie on May 17, 2010 Jump to Comments (0) or Add Your Own The Poison Control Center's second album, Sad Sour Future, is the band's White Album, which is a bit of a backhanded compliment. After all, a White Album requires a lot of disharmony and isolation between the members of a band. Sad Sour Future is the product of four songwriters, separated by 1,500 miles, exchanging home demos over the course of two years—accumulating 40 songs in total, 17 of which made it into the album's 71-minute sprawl. It's definitely not the most common genesis for a rock album, especially when it's a sophomore effort. The record encompasses many moods, themes, and genres, and for the most part, it takes advantage of its weightiness. The lengthy running time lets the major topics of aging, retrospection, and the helplessness of growing older really sink in. After all, these themes require a lot of time to develop, and it probably wouldn't be as compelling in a half-hour capsule. What's most impressive about Sad Sour Future is how much of a piece it sounds despite its cobbled-together origins. The songs are unusually sporadic, rarely even sharing the same singer back-to-back, but sound remarkably unified when experienced in order. The shining, whitewashed "Stay Golden" is coupled with the jangly, lo-fi "Calling Card," the Mangum-esque sparseness of "Tiny Isles" fades right into the driving immediacy of "Cognac Dreams"; these transitions could've been thoroughly awkward, but somehow they couldn't sound any more natural. The songs simply sound related to each other, regardless of who wrote them, and that speaks to the band's singular vision despite having been over a thousand miles apart....full text |
| Amesprogressive |
| Patrick Tape Fleming, Devin Frank, Joe Terry, and Don Ephraim, the four permanent members of the Poison Control Center, are spread across four cities in three states in two time zones. But listening to their upcoming album Sad Sour Future, you’d never know it. The band recorded this lush new record – which is to be released on Afternoon Records in April 2010 – in one week in May 2009. In the months preceding their recording session, the band members sent home recordings of their new songs to one another. Each musician added their own parts to the songs, experimenting with a variety of instrumentation, vocal arrangements, and other sonic touches. By the time they assembled to record the tracks, they were ready to put their various parts together into a coherent whole. And, from the sound of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if they also allowed themselves to do some experimenting once they were all finally together laying down the tracks in the studio. Sad Sour Future, their third full-length album as a four-piece band, is the Poison Control Center’s most diverse, dynamic and pleasurable collection yet. Considering the range and power of their last record – the unforgettably tuneful “A Collage of Impressions” – that’s saying something. The upcoming release shows the band at the height of their musical and songwriting powers. And though the record includes tracks that reflect the power and energy of their remarkable live shows, the most resonant songs show the band’s sweeter side....full text |
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