Just one today; apologies for the double post yesterday... one of them was
an uncorrected version that "got away" while I wasn't paying proper
attention. -caw

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from The Bob #27, no date

The Connells
Darker Days
Ball Park Records

This is glorious music.  Prepare yourself, for my enthusiasm mounts.

The Connells are a Raleigh, North Carolina quintet of the standard mold --
vcl, dr, bs, gtr, gtr, with one member doubling on keyboards as well -- but
the music they make is anything but.  Some observers have likened them to
the Smiths and, in truth, a surface assessment might yield just that.  Mike
Connel and George Huntley do have a familiarly distinctive jangle in their
axes (Marr kneads guitar? Ouch) and Doug Macmillan has a vocal style just
warbly and quirky enough to evoke miserable ol' Morrissey.  Working within a
pop structure and utilizing basic components will always bring the
inevitable comparisons.  I am disinclined to say that this is due to an
illiteracy or laziness on the critics' parts but rather an acknowledgement
that there is just not that much new under the sun anymore.  Plus, the
people that purchase the journals that purport to present criticism and
description want to know (a) What does it sound like?, and (b)Is it good?,
instead of some newfangled language of indulgence that only NME writers
would understand.

This is glorious music.  It is not sub-Smiths music.  It sounds heavenly,
and it is good.

I was admittedly, unprepared.  Two cuts on the Comboland N.C. sampler
("Unspoken Words" and "7") were teasers at best, given that they did lead to
a contract with London's Demon Records, so rich and altogether delicious are
the nine tracks present now.  Opening track "Darker Days" defines the
Connells without restricting them, as jangly electrics and acoustics briskly
go about their business of making a busy mix.  And sonorous basslines couple
with background (backwards?) vocals to add a special denseness.  All the
while a soaring falcon of a lead vocal takes the listener skyward,
fearlessly.  Oh I could go on, piling superlatives without admitting my
local bias.  But then you all know that by now, don't you?

So I'll be brief with my bias, as you must run, not walk, to your dealer for
this album.  "Much easier" is gently midtempo, with a nice little lazy synth
riff; did you ever wonder what a mating of Let's Active and Modern English
might sound like?  In "1934" the vocal seems partially submerged yet it
proudly pushes its way past Byrdsy guitars to reach the fore, proclaiming in
the closing moments that "My mother's never been the same/My father's a
forgotten name/...Oh, I'll be out in 1934!"  "Hats Off" rushes up in a spiky
burst of adrenalin, choppy guitars hitting staccato peaks then slipping into
sneaky chimes, the tambourine beating the retreat of cowboys and Santa
Claus.  Peele Wimberly's restless drumming intros "Holding Pattern," a moody
skewed waltz that has David Connell chronicling impatience with his bass
throughout until brother Mike comes in with one of the most irresistably
joyous leads on the entire record, quite incongruous yet...just...right!

And that's part of The Connells' special magic:  all the pieces fit together
so perfectly when listened to as a whole, yet to dissect each tune and lay
out each piece separately and say "This is nice," "This sounds pretty,"
etc., is to undermine and possibly belittle the overall effect (to say
nothing of leaving the reader scratching his head and asking, "So what do
The Connells really sound like, and are they really good?").  Listen, it's
hard to distance yourself sometimes, in the presence of music so...perfect.
Oh, I could go on, adding clever little critical postscripts to each of the
songs.  But I wouldn't be telling you anything new, would I?

This is glorious music.  There may be nothing new under the sun, but The
Connells shine so brightly -- call it pop, rock 'n' roll, whatever -- and
display such an intuitive grasp of the structures and forms of classic tunes
that perhaps I should try harder to find the proper words and somehow
prepare myself to better share my enthusiasm.

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