Record Review: The Sour Notes – It’s Not Gonna be Pretty

By Rebekah Goode-Peoples

Whenever I eat sweet and sour bean curd, I vacillate between wanting to drink Thai iced tea and, well, beer. I usually end up going for the sweet, creamy taste of a cool Thai iced tea. So, I guess it is no surprise that I find myself attracted to the pretty pop sound of The Sour Notes, band name notwithstanding.

In their current incarnation, The Sour Notes are a six-piece from Austin Texas. It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty, is their third self-released, full-length album.

The album is essentially a mix tape of musical impulses, and, although the band has garage/punk roots, their playful pop tunes ring the most true. The first track “Beyond Recognition” starts off in Postal Service territory with the computerized drums tingling and thumping behind the Shinsy male lead vocal and crystalline female harmonies. But the sound quickly goes a-rockin’ with “Do-ers and Say-ers,” somehow melding Sonic Youth energy with the accessibility of Versus. The album slides along this continuum—sometimes dabbling with a taste of Band of Horses, like in the track “It’s the Hair That Makes the Dress Chic!,” and throwing in more than a sprinkle of locals The Goldest, like in the track “Familiar Presence”—without establishing a clear sonic home base.

It’s all good, but the drum machine and simple lyricism enlivened by wacky dissonant keys of “One Word Emotions” and the pleasantly emotive “The Distant Knell” are pure pop dessert.

Let’s call it sweet and sour. Pick your pleasure.

Rating: AAA

Listen: The Sour Notes – Beyond Recognition