It’s hard to review an album, in which the songs are just so…nice. You feel bad writing anything negative, but at the same time, as a critic, you’ve got to keep it real. And that, loyal readers, can suck complete ass!
Seriously!
Such is the case with The Cold Open, the Twin Cities-based indie-pop group, and their playful, sweet-natured debut album, Behind the Mattress (The Cold Open; July 24 release; priced around $10) , which the band’s self-titled label generously provided us a copy of.
(In the interest of full disclosure, vocalist and guitarist, Eric Rice, is the better half of TC Jewfolk’s Noshin’ columnist, Sara Rice.)
And to be fair, there’s nothing terribly wrong with that, per se—who doesn’t like an ice cream sundae, now and then?
However, just like any similarly delicious confection, after the first few bites of heaven, it all starts to taste the same; and what was once a beautifully-prepared, aesthetically-pleasing dessert becomes this gloppy mess that becomes tiresome and, at times, sickeningly sweet.
If that was the band’s ultimate goal, they’ve succeeded. In that success, however, they’ve produced an inoffensive, but ultimately bland, first CD.
It all starts out swimmingly, with a fun, soda shop-like, pop ditty, titled “Indian Summer.” With its sunny vocals, about an Indian summer love, and fast-paced guitar-strumming, it’s a fairly irresistible tune. As is the second track, “I’m Not Calling You,” a clever tune about avoiding a former flame’s phone calls, which is funny and energetic.
If there’s one thing the band has going for them, it’s their clever lyrics. I was really impressed with some of the witty one-liners, within the songs themselves. They always seemed to ring true and I found many of the songs’ lyrics to be better than the songs themselves. Whether that makes sense to anyone other than me is anyone’s guess.
Yes, the music itself is just really blah. The hooks are there, alright, but they seem oddly detached from the lyrics. It’s a shame, too, that this is the case, because by making the musical notes completely toothless, shapeless, and, ultimately, perfunctory, the songs themselves seem unnecessary. It’s as if the band wrote the lyrics first and, well, they had to write something!
Otherwise, it would just be poetry, I suppose.
On the upside, the blandness of some of the songs certainly has an upside: They make great ambient, dinner music. It totally blends in with the rest of the chatter.
In fact, I’ll probably place it right next to my John Tesh collection (kidding, folks! Only kidding!).
Yeah, I know.
That may be one of my snarkiest comments yet.
Truth be known, you could do worse by picking up and listening to this album. Then again, you could do a helluva lot better.
I ask you: Which one of those last two comments is the harsher critique?
Ya know what? Let’s just call it a toss-up, shall we?
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I’m entirely biased. Entirely.
Sara Rice (Noshin’ writer) is a friend of mine, I know and really like Eric Rice (although I wouldn’t say either of them is the ‘better’ half), and I’ve met the rest of the band. I also knew Andy Lindberg (z”l) who died at 24 a few months ago in a car accident while working on the production of this CD. May his memory always be a blessing.
There is no way for me to hear The Cold Open play without hearing them through the stories I know.
In the interest of my own full-disclosure, though, Sara and Eric do not know that I’m writing this. I didn’t know until just now that there was a CD Review (not sure how I missed that, but it’s been a crazy week)!
Hal, I’m impressed by your honesty in your review. You I don’t know, but I feel I can safely assume you are a good person and as you said who wants to be negative about something that is nice? Thank you for what you wrote. Really. 🙂
However, I’d also like to encourage folks to go hear The Cold Open play live sometime – and then see if you are inspired to buy the CD. Everyone’s taste is different, and I don’t know whether you’ll like the music, I can’t guarantee you’ll like every song (I don’t think I have any CDs on which I like EVERY song), but I do think most people would enjoy letting this band entertain you. The fans who come out to support them are relaxed and fun, I think the lyrics are awesome (as Hal wrote), and sometimes I like not having my world totally rocked and being able to just enjoy a 76 degree day . . . maybe you would, too.
Know what else I like? I like that Eric, a lawyer, spends his free-time playing with a band. I also like that Luke’s song “I’m Not Calling You” is about HIM not getting called.
I don’t know how it’ll be for you, but for me The Cold Open’s “Behind the Mattress” is snow cones (I’m not an ice cream sundae person), and the State Fair, 76 degree days (or those 45 degree days in January), a solid cup of coffee . . . and it works for me.
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. It was a pleasure to read your beautiful comment. It actually made me think and return to the album. That takes quite a bit of moxie. Admittedly, I still feel the same as I did, in my original review. You share memories, an intimacy, with this band…and, in all sincerity, I wish I could have that same link. I once use to have a friend that was a struggling musician. I watched him grow into a wonderful singer/songwriter. I wrote a gushing blog entry about him. My mistake. My bad. But truth be known, he is a gifted musician. It’s a shame that he ended up becoming an arrogant asshole. But my point: as hard as it may be, I have to remain objective. That being said, you enjoyed the album. You gave it a shot. If there’s one that can be said about my lukewarm review, it will give them a wider audience. Take care.