Send "Smith Westerns " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Smith Westerns have cleaned up nicely. Just over a year ago, the Chicago foursome were of the strictly "lo-fi" persuasion, stirring up hot, filthy garage-rock candy out of Marc Bolan and Beatles signifiers. It was youthful music in feeling and sound-- their noisy full-length debut was recorded while they were still in high school-- but the remarkable hooks buried therein were clear enough to land them on the increasingly stacked Fat Possum roster. And suddenly, they had a studio budget the likes of which they definitely hadn't enjoyed before. Though the leap is audibly huge, Dye It Blonde's many successes aren't wholly the result of its gilded production values and ambition. This band was able to furnish first-class melodies from the beginning. Now they've grown along with their resources.You can hear the progress right away in "Imagine, Pt. 3", a song originally released as part of a split 7" in April 2010. Sped up here just a touch, it's also been re-outfitted with a far creamier set of synths and guitars. The way the latter seem to clasp hands during the coda is particularly breathtaking, frontman Cullen Omori and guitarist Max Kakacek letting their individual lines mate rather than duel. While the melodic foundation was already sturdy throughout, here, what once sounded ragged in stretches is now plush-upholstered from start to finish. Every single piece of Dye It Blonde is similarly decadent, whether it's the sweet whine of semi-titular closer "Dye the World" or the twilight jangle of "End of the Night". In an interview not long after the album's completion, Omori noted that this otherwise new set of songs was influenced by 90s Britpop luminaries like Oasis, Teenage Fanclub, and Suede. All are present sonically and spiritually, be it in brash tones, melodic IQ or the sheer scope of these recordings. Where a Smith Westerns hook may have once sounded like another fuzzy member of the Nuggets family/genus, it now unfolds like crane-shot, mainstage festival fare. "Still New" for example floats some phasered guitar interplay before Kakacek rips a hole across the chest of the song with a woozy line so big it essentially serves as a chorus. Like "Weekend", whose central, hair-flipping lick also hugs all its parts together perfectly, the song just sounds so drunk-- drunk on love, drunk on heavy petting, drunk on drink, or maybe just drunk on a some combination of the above. In song, it all depends on the lean of Omori's voice and the whip of his chord changes, the curves of his brother Cameron's bass lines. That moony/beery-eyed feel bleeds through every corridor of this album and in turn forms a crystalline expression of what moves this band. Their use of the studio in augmenting that never goes overboard, though: this music still retains the innately psychedelic, lamplit, tongue-kissed sense of atmosphere that set it apart. There's perhaps no better instance of all that than "All Die Young", the album's centerpiece. It's a ballad turned hymn whose grand, tumbling scale and "Oh Yoko"-indebted outro celebration are peaks on an album rich in them. In its closing moments, Omori sings what sounds like, "Love is lovely when you are young." They were convincing before, but now they seem like experts....full text |
| Onethirtybpm |
| Fans of last year’s self-titled debut album from Smith Westerns might want to forget most of what they know about the band’s sound. Smith Westerns was just a blueprint for what was to come on their follow up Dye It Blonde. The poppy melodies and enthusiastic guitars are still there, but the fuzzy lo-fi production is gone and in its place is a much grander sound. What they’ve created from that blueprint is a shrine to all their favorite rock music of decades past, most notably the Beatles, Teenage Fanclub and glam rock. Just saying that the band have rested on the laurels of their influences is completely unfair however; this is not Smith Westerns trying to recreate the sound of their iTunes library, this is Smith Westerns taking bits and pieces of those ideas, fusing them with their own and producing an album they’d be happy to listen to. Also, impressively, despite all those influences it’s an album that manages to sound modern, steer clear of being nostalgic and create the sound of being young today. The band may have moved on their production values but their lyrics are still as charmingly juvenile as ever. Opening track “Weekend” sets the listener right into the band’s mindset with the childlike hook of “The weekends are never fun unless you’re around here too” and they don’t let up with the adolescentisms (if you will) from there. There are a few naive steps into trite territory with the likes of “oh girl can’t you see what you’re doing to me” and “we’ll dance the night away” but you’ll quickly forget those when you’re swept up in the next riotously infectious group of “ooh”s that are sure to be only a few seconds further down the line....full text |
| Weallwantsomeone |
| Smith Westerns self titled debut was a great first effort. Even with though it was extremely lo-fi, they showed great promise, leaving fans eager to see what good production would be able to do for the Chicago gang. You can stop imagining, because Smith Westerns new album, Dye It Blonde is that dream put into reality. The unstoppable record label Fat Possum took the Chicago band under their wing with producer Chris Coady and produced a stellar effort. On this 10 song album, the bands sound is taken to incredible new heights. “Weekend” was our first taste of cleaner sounding Smith Westerns, and its the perfect album opener. It bleeds of youthful exuberance and romantic hope. The combination of Cullen Omori’s light vocals and the glimmering guitar riffs will leave you in awe. “Imagine Pt. 3″ shines with bright energy, even if it’s penned with sad lyrics like “The look in your eyes makes me wanna die. You’re not the girl I used to know”. Just like everyone else, Smith Westerns are growing up and experiencing everything that life has planned for them on the way. Craving love is a huge theme on this album, but they never take it too seriously. “All Die You”, the standout of the album, is an emotional ride through the tribulations of life. It’s a dramatic song that nearly causes time to stop when played. The boys change the tempo towards the end, transitioning into a playful reprise of “All die young, when love is love, and when you are young”. It’s their way of playing it all off. Their too young to get totally consumed by adulthood. The thing that’s so great about these songs is their instant appeal. “Smile” has all the ambition of an early 90s brit-pop classic that would make the Gallaghers proud. It’s one of the many songs that will win you over. Ultimately it’s up to you to choose which songs are your favorite, because they’re all top notch....full text |
Smith Westerns lyrics
|
| |||||||
