Rockbites: The Lookyloos offer exhilerating Cali pop on debut

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September 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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The Lookyloos offer exhilerating Cali pop on debut
26 September 2002

The freshest new pop on the west coast comes from an informal side project that has grown wings.

Davis/Sacramento, California indie pop trio The Lookyloos (their name American slang for gawker), an informal side project formed in 1995 by members of defunct punk bands Chance The Gardner and The Curbfeeders, and ongoing instrumental act Acme Rocket Quartet, this past Friday released their debut album titled (take a breath) Perhaps The Most Satisfying Joy Left To Us In An Age So Limited And Vulgar As Our Own.
    Their project remains informal: neither does the band have a Website nor does their label (Lather Records) mention them on theirs. They have no distribution to speak of. But the record’s good enough that I want to tell you about it anyway.
    Seven years ago, front man Eric Janssen, bass & keyboards player Dave Thompson, and percussionist Paul Takushi elected to start a band that was simply fun and not designed (as were their previous projects) to propel them into media or major-label regard. They discovered a common love for the gentle but eloquent & dynamic sound whose prime movers have included Belle And Sebastian, Pavement, and Television Personalities, and the whole of New Zealand’s indie scene including The Bats, The Chills, and The Clean. It’s these artists who’ll come to mind the first few times you listen to The Lookyloos.
    The trio have made the new set arty from the outside in—with cover paintings of an eggplant and of a woman’s head, by the person who books bands at local Sacramento venue Old Ironsides; a photo of art museum guests on the back; and a title based on a line from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray.
    Inside, Janssen pulls the music forward with compelling vocal stylings bearing elements of twee fragility à la Vancouver’s P:ano, to slightly addled romanticism reminiscent of The Chills and Pavement, to soaring moments of high emotion—especially in album closer I Love A Painter—in which this relatively unknown singer simply and confidently stands alone.
    The set leads off from silence with padded-stick cymbal play and guitar, a quiet count down before the rest of the band kicks in, and then a dreamily-delivered Beatles reference cum love song titled The Tall Girl With My Heart In Her Hands: “Drink a cup/ Catch the bus/ Have a smoke/ And off I go/ Buildings fall/ But I feel good/ I feel over six feet tall.”
    Perhaps... is an extraordinarily literary album, each song brimming with the sort of emotional dynamics and imagery you’d normally get from short stories, not pop songs. And like my favorite authors, the music here is also playful and joyous at heart, even at its most poignant.
    It’s just three guys playing with harmony and rhythm and emotions, on a tiny label that may not have the resources to get them noticed beyond Websites like this one, but the debut full-length by The Lookyloos is definitively one of the best albums of the year. Five bites out of five.

Rockbites ratings  5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying.

You won’t find Perhaps The Most Satisfying Joy Left To Us... on any online retailer that we know about... but it might be in your favorite local record shop or you can get it by sending a check directly to the label—check their site for info. | Lather Records | | top of page |

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