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Dusted Reviews
Artist: The Everyothers Album: Pink Sticky Lies Label: Kill Rock Stars Review date: Jul. 1, 2006 |
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Listening to the Everyothers, it's not hard to trace the source of the frontman's yelp, the twin guitar interplay, or the nightclubbing come-ons. This five-song EP struts around the cosmopolitan ’70s, between Aladdin Sane and Marquee Moon. They don't push those affectations too hard; they wisely refrain from the post-Strokes clichés of guitar pop, like treating the vocals, then doubling them for the chorus, or multi-tracking to the point of sounding antiseptic. The cover sums it up: a girl blowing a pink wad of Bubble Yum, her hair in a Farrah.
Frontman Owen McCarthy's lyrics have a single theme: come with me baby and we'll find a bigger buzz. He peppers in nonsequiturs like "I'm a newborn sleeping on a headstone," which adds a garishness needed with such straightforward arrangements. “Pinky Sticky Lies” is slower, weaker, modeled on an Iggy croon, the kind of thing that didn't always work for Iggy either. Baby has left to look for a buzz with someone else. It's hard to believe the remorse in his delivery. Even if there's a wounded boy under that eyeliner and fabulous outfit, you know he'll manage to make it out to the street on time.
A few lines into the bio on their website, it brags about the McCarthy's hair and cheekbones. This after claiming the New York band is, you know, one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands on earth. That kind of insufferable ambition doesn't spill over into the songs. His voice, the nasal turns he takes while building the chorus, shows real skill at putting together a hook, real joy, too. If they're borrowing from another decade's decadence, they keep it from coming off quaint. They have enough polish for a trip through the major-label meat grinder. Throwing their lot with a big indie like Kill Rock Stars suggests there's some wisdom behind the shallowness.
By Ben Donnelly
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