Sweet Diss and the Comebacks “Emerald City Love Song”

From Washington state comes a daring sophomore album from Sweet Diss and the Comebacks. The brainchild of Nate Reinauer and its so good, you’ll need many repeat listens. The band has vocal skills similar to The Beach Boys or The Sonic Executive Sessions, with the melodic guitar fuzz of Weezer and Green Day. It also reminded me a little of Kara’s Flowers (later they became Maroon 5). The album’s sole concept is about “getting the girl” and opening with the crisp a capella “Twenty-Something” it shows off stunning four part harmonies.

Then we get the hook filled “Never Stop Wooing You,” full of minor chords and sunshine. Next the guitars get heavier, and tempo gets faster on “Maybe Someday.” The focus of all this attention is on an “Indie Girl,” a mid-tempo ballad where the singer worries his songs are “lame” cause she’s into folk “and I’m still playing power pop.” Every track here is polished melodic gold. A musical suite named “Seattle’s Best” ends things off, with some quirky movements as our twenty-something protagonist falls in love with his Barista. However, it does end abruptly with anti-climactic demo “Nobody But She.”

When the seminal Beach Boys album Pet Sounds was released in 1966, it had a unified theme in its emotional insecurity and deep seated longing that defined a generation.  To my ears, Emerald City Love Song serves up those very same emotions to a new generation of pop fans in its own way. Essential and a contender for one of the best power pop albums of the year.