The Thrills, ‘So Much For the City’
By user • Nov 13th, 2003 • Category: Album Reviews
The story is this: Five Dublin lads save their money and move to California for the summer. They fall in love with America and return home to work the subsequent nine months just to save enough money for another three-month stint.
While here, the quintet, aka The Thrills, wrote and recorded “So Much for the City” after discovering the Beach Boys, surfing and all things West Coast.
The California influence is undeniable. The album contains the songs “Santa Cruz (You’re Not That Far),” “Don’t Steal Our Sun” and “Hollywood Kids,” while also mentioning San Diego in two others.
Conor Dreasy’s soft tenor lands among the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and Grandaddy front man/California-native Jason Lytle. In addition to the passionate lead vocals, each track is accentuated by lush five-part harmonies, as each member adds his own layer to the mix.
The Thrills breathe new life into the forgotten elements of the Haight-Ashbury glory days. “So Much for the City” creates a wistful summertime aura by combining traditional power-pop fundamentals with hints of piano, banjo, harmonica and xylophone.
Unfortunately, fun music can be viewed as either manipulated pop filth or simple, adolescent rubbish. The Thrills disprove both of those close-minded theories.
The record’s high-water mark is the second track, “Big Sur.” The fun, catchy jingle about “Just hanging around/ Letting your old man down,” encompasses every aspect contained within the album’s additional 10 songs.
The track “Hollywood Kids” claims, “Those Hollywood kids have got it made.” For the time being, five lads from Dublin also seem to be in the same lucky boat — resting just off the coast of California.
Northern Star, Nov. 13, 2003
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