Powerpop group Mythical Motors hits their groove with new release
Mythical Motors, Chattanooga’s favorite powerpop quartet, has just put the finishing touches on their latest album, set for release later this month. Running the Shine is the title of this upcoming collection of sixteen new tunes by messieurs Addison, Brown, Smith and Wingo, and it is a sterling example of how a great band just keeps getting better and better.
Much has already been written about the band and its style, but two key identifying features are always worth mentioning again. The guitar tone is a perfect blend of raw and refined, or rather the tone is raw, the playing is refined.
It is the sort of rough-edged sound a hapless Nashville producer would sterilize and suck all the life out of; how fortunate the boys in the band are too smart for that nonsense. Instead they opt to keep the “garage band” guitar sound, taming it with the kind of skillful and nuanced playing that comes from your garage band days being a few decades safely behind you.
Counterpointing the six-string sting are the cool, laidback, almost gentle vocals, evocative of psychedelic era Beatles and maybe a bit of Robyn Hitchcock.
There are plenty of bands that utilize either a similar guitar or a similar vocal style, but it is the alchemical combination of the two that gives Mythical Motors their signature sound and enduring popularity. The new album is replete with it.
It’s impossible to squeeze in a comprehensive review of sixteen tracks in a space this limited, so it becomes necessary to focus on a few stand-out tracks. That’s easier said than done since Mythical Motors takes such care in crafting their music that every song is a stand-out in its own right. That being said, the opening track, “Let the Balloons Fly,” is classic Mythical Motors.
A rollicking guitar opens the tune which quickly settles in to a smooth, laid-back verse and then a chorus with interplay between major and minor scales from the vocals and chorus. Therein lays the genius of the band.
A tune that could have been pretty straightforward introduces a twist that is both unexpected and yet pleasing to the ear. It’s almost as though little gems and Easter eggs are incorporated in to the music adding a layer of unpredictability that sets them miles apart from other bands with a similar sound. The lead guitar on this particular tune is the final ingredient in a delightful new recipe. It is pure mid-sixties tone, slicing through the rest of the song like an Amboy Dukes era scalpel.
The album’s titular track, “Running the Shine,” captures what, for me, is a golden age in modern music. See, I’m “of a certain age,” and college radio in the early to mid-nineties was a candy store of new and interesting music when you could set the dial, let it play all day and never hear a dud.
Perhaps there is just as much good stuff today, but it feels like the good stuff is watered down by a lot of not-so-good stuff so, yeah, mid-nineties alt-rock was a high water mark I think, and the title track of the album captures that era in a way that makes an increasingly grumpy old man decidedly less so.
“Spiritual West” is a sonically luscious Beatles-esque entry and “Place of Only Midnight” channels the ghost of a younger Elvis Costello. Yes, Old Elvis Costello is still alive and kicking, but this music hearkens back to a time when he produced pop with an edge, music that was hip but still radio friendly and maybe that’s the best description I can muster for what Mythical Motors is and does. Edgy pop, cool enough for the discerning snob, pretty enough for the masses. That’s a narrow line to walk, but Mythical Motors does it masterfully every time they play.
The album is Running the Shine and it drops May 27 on CD and cassette (yes, cassette!) Find the band online via Facebook or the usual distribution points to get your copy.