Late July - Side Swept

The next two blog posts are probably going to be a little biased. (Whom am I kidding? They’re probably going to be very biased.)  A very good friend of mine, Nicole Simone, fronts Late July.  Ironically, the fact that she’s a good friend made it hard to write this review. 

Late July’s first EP Side Swept typifies Indie Pop.  Starting with “Literary Kings”, Side Swept gets off to a boisterous start.

Propulsed by hyperactive drums that are anchored by the bass, “Literary Kings” features a lively electric guitar riff and playful lyrics from Nicole.

“Binary Hearts” on the other hand describes the physical weakness we feel when we’ve fallen for someone who doesn’t feel the same as we do.

“Rewind” is about a lost friendship. However, musically it’s quite interesting.

Here it is: 

In the introduction you’ll hear a guitar track played backwards.  This reappears during the choruses.  Listen carefully to the outro and you’ll hear the chorus played backwards as well. 

“A Well Kept Secret” is a ballad with primarily piano accompaniment.

Finally the title track “Side Swept” closes out the album. A charming song about falling in love.

While it sounds like Side Swept is a slight album, especially compared to her next EP Hospital Quiet, it is still highly recommended.  Good, intelligent pop music is deceptively simple.  Alex Chilton of Big Star once said, “Most of the Big Star stuff was searching for how to get through two verses without saying anything really stupid.”  That seems to be quite an apt description of pop music.  It’s very easy to astray in writing a pop song.  Suffice it to say, Late July doesn`t go astray on Side Swept.