Darling New Neighbors
Record review
Reviewed by Greg Beets, Fri., June 9, 2006
Darling New Neighbors
Every Day Is Saturday Night
Charmingly scrappy and well-at-ease with near-constant stylistic hopscotch, Austin's Darling New Neighbors exude the same sense of kindred endearment as a favored thrift-store shirt. The multi-instrumentalist trio's debut dabbles in indie-pop, country, folk, and disco with a freewheeling mindset that doesn't break boundaries so much as pay no attention to them whatsoever. Frontwoman Elizabeth Jackson moves between bass, accordion, and violin, the latter of which figures prominently on gorgeously wistful opener, "Overgrown." Jackson's country-style vocal captures just the right amounts of emotion and resignation. The Neighbors tap the left side of the dial with "Seven," an urgent spiral and perfect early Nineties segue out of Scrawl or Austin's own Happy Family. Then "Jesus" conjures up an organic tent revival in polka country with subtle but effective accordion and steel guitar flourishes. Drummer/ukulele player Reid Faist takes the mic on "Puppies," a bittersweet snapshot of love gone wrong, while "Grocery" utilizes Faist's expedient disco beat and guitarist Amy Moreland's tongue-in-cheek wah-wah solo to achieve maximum quirk. From its title on down, Every Day Is Saturday Night epitomizes the deadly serious Old Austin conviction to avoid being overly serious.
