Out on Friendly Fire Recordings January 22nd, 2008.
Sharing two members with the ever-popular Shout Out Out Out Out and hailing from Edmonton, Alberta this heavily 60’s influenced psych-pop band will be releasing their debut January 22nd, 2008 through Friendly Fire in the US and Pop Echo Records in Canada.
The Whitsundays certainly have a knack for writing yellowed, reverb-wrapped pop music, borrowing from the grand tradition of English psychedelia, garage, and vintage organ rock. With reverent nods to the flower-picking whimsy of the Zombies, the red-faced bluster of the Animals, and the delightful inanity of Syd Barrett, the Whitsundays’ self-titled debut is a vintage gem, and a charming hodgepodge of ’60s musical ephemera.
The main Whit, Paul Arnusch — who also logs time with starry post-rock supernauts Faunts and post-punk reduxers the Floor — called on his ever-expanding collection of vintage gear (from archaic guitars to Rhodes and Wurlitzers) to document a loose, passionate love letter to the past 40 years of “timeless music.” Of course, none of this backward-glancing praise is to say that Arnusch’s first offering with the Whitsundays sounds all that old. On the contrary, he manages to transport the antiqued sounds of the ’60s — walls of dreamy harmonies, straight-away drumming, boney guitars, whirring organs — across the same updated palates employed by bands like Dressy Bessy, Apples in Stereo, The Shins, and Belle & Sebastian.
And while this is quite the departure for Arnusch, who is more used to pounding out labyrinthine experiments behind the kit for Faunts and 80’s-minded melodrama with the Floor than such lovely sock-hop simplicity, his experimental sensibilities still peek through on the Whitsundays’ self-titled debut album. In fact, these curiosities and quirks are perhaps the album’s strongest suit, tugging a set of super-sweet diner pop through the ages, and somehow updating it along the way.
John Sargeant, writing on NeuFutur as Sargeant, is the founder and editor-in-chief of NeuFutur Magazine, where he has covered independent music, PC hardware, consumer tech, and gaming culture since 1998. With over 25 years of continuous digital publishing experience, he has written thousands of hands-on game and record reviews, conducted in-depth hardware field testing, and analyzed digital media monetization trends. His work prioritizes first-hand evaluation and long-term product testing.
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