To follow an “office” theme this week: Owen Sartori, a singer-songwriter from, Minneapolis, MN, has been in a few bands prior to this, his debut release. The songs have some cleverly catchy lyrics and with strong melodies in the first half similar to Jason Falkner and Ben Folds. It opens with the radio-friendly track, “Could You Be The One,” and it has some mainstream break out potential with it’s melodic bass line, although it was a bit too slick for me. The follow up “The Cube” is along the same lines, but more authentic with it’s strong piano melody and biting chorus “such a cruel joke that this should be my life.” The enthusiasm on “I Knew You’d Come Along” is concrete – it’s a rich, textured single bursting at the seams, and my favorite here. The most Falkner-like track is “Punching Bag” with it’s “punchy” beat and strong boxing/relationship associations. Next, “Separate” is a great ballad with melancholic lyrics about a dissolving relationship. The quality dips a bit in terms of memorable hooks, although the funky “Hey Gorilla” and “Go On” make a good attempts to engage the listener. The amusing “Turning 30” is a rant about getting old, and not partying like your college days. The remaining tracks are missing the magic that those earlier tracks have, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying this very good album. Owen has a great future, based on this debut.

Owen’s Site | My Space | CD Baby

Listen to the “I knew you’d come along”

Listen to the “Punching Bag”

Semion is a London-based power pop quartet fronted by Gary Ford,with a skill in Fountains of Wayne meets The Jam energy. This starts with the ringing guitars of “Rum Runner”  and continues with the classic jangle of “Liverpool Sunset” and “Rubbing Alcohol”, both have a late seventies sound with great bouncing choruses. “Never Changes” has a cool dance beat with the guitars along the lines of The Ramones and The Bongos. The great chords and melodic skills really come out on the song “Honour” – and it’s my favorite on the album. And they have plenty of angry-man Ray Davies-styled observational lyrics in “Black Cloud” to go with the killer Kinks-like riffs. “Year of the Monkee” brings to mind Teenage Fanclub with it’s “ooh ooh” and multi-tracked vocals and splintering solos. They even have a song called “Jangle#1” – guess what that one sounds like? Echos of both Teenage Fanclub and Velvet Crush are also all over the albums later half with the sweet mid tempo “Another Clue” to the fuzzy guitar of “Get A Grip”. A few songs here don’t work as well melody-wise (“Transmission”), as the weaker tracks are collected at the albums end. I think most power pop fans will enjoy the spotless opening tracks and the band’s spirit and musicanship make up for any flaws here. It’s an easy album to recommend.

Semion’s Site | My Space | CD Baby | Not Lame | Kool Kat Musik

The Philadelphia-based The Swimmers put out a new release “Fighting Trees” is a tight collection of a dozen well produced tracks constructed with sparse instrumentation and satisfying Beatleseque melodies. Fans of The Shins and Spoon will enjoy the opener “It’s Time They Knew” before diving headlong into the aforementioned strummer “Heaven.” I would swear Ringo is on drums here. Then we get the Wilco meets New Pornographers pop in  tracks “We Love To Build” and “Miles From Our Fears.” The Swimmers have become a bit of an “under the radar” sensation locally, and with the synth popped ballads and the kind of dreamy harmonies, handclaps, piano runs make it easy to love. This is primarily pop music that is easy on the ear and ipod friendly. Raggedy guitars and pounding drums enliven harder-rocking songs, like “It’s Time They Knew” and “St. Cecilia”. Infectious melodies run through the entire album, although the ending ballad “Fighting Trees” gets a bit labored. Through it all lead singer Steve Yutzy-Burkey has focused on three of the great themes of pop music: lost youth, thwarted love and the fear of death. The tandem of “Your Escape” and “Goodbye” hit this spot right on. This is serious stuff, yet couched in such likeable, easily absorbed musical settings that you hardly notice the angst. And in a way, isn’t that the secret of great power pop? You’re humming along to philosophy’s most serious questions…but with a big smile on your face.

My Space | The Swimmers Streaming Website | Amazon | Itunes