REVIEW: THE SOUR NOTES - THE MEAT OF THE FRUIT

We really wanted to kick off Memorial Day weekend with a review of a great pop album, because it’s the beginning of summer and we all know that with pop music is the soundtrack for picnics on red checkered tablecloths out in the sunshine. We also know that we aren’t far enough into the heat to focus on the humidity and having to wage a never-ending game of Tower Defense against the insects that would make a mad dash towards the victuals in our collective baskets; no one has on their mind that the mayonnaise in their potato salad will soon turn into a soup of sick.

Ideally, this should have been the time to review Spain Colored Orange’s long delayed full length, but for whatever reason they aren’t quite ready yet (indeed, we’ve got a pool going to see if the next time there is a ‘MUSICIAN NEEDED’ post for the band, that it it will be their record label exclaiming that they need a ‘new guitarist, drummer, bass player, trumpeter and ridiculously talented songwriter/vocalist/keyboard player. We kid cause we love.)

On the face of it, The Sour Notes’ debut might be an odd way to get the space between the Holidays started, especially for a folks like us who generally look down on all things not completely Houston. The Meat of the Fruit, however, has both the local pedigree and the gumption of a realpolitik pop trajectory to make it our weekend cookout and pool-side favorite.

First, the cred. The Sour Notes is a project that features many a Houstonian (even if in exile), including Jared Boulanger, who might have blown your mind if you saw him one of the like two times that Slovak Republic ever played. Plus, it’s got Brandi from Woozie Helmet in it, and they’re 1/3 H-Town now. Plus, anyone who ended up on the Montrose Lawn Seating Mound for last week’s Radiohead show can count these guys as company, because they seem to be in the background of every picture we’ve seen of the day. Also, Liz Molina on back-up vocals FTW! And can we beg the question – how much local cred do you have to have to have to get Rene Cruz to do your artwork? (ATTN RECORD SHOPPERS: Needing to judge a release by it’s cover? Look for something Rene did the design on – he’s been batting 1000 lately.)

Something we must understand about how we perceive summer: it generally could be charted on a pleasure graph like the path of a cannonball. Fresh from the muzzle they blast, optimistically so, initially bearing little regard for Newton and his kill-joy laws of Gravity. But as the seconds flee, Earth’s mass takes hold and drags the spinning black orb back towards the ground, ever downward in a more gentle bell than the original J curve. So too, do we think about summer. “It’s here!” we exclaim “School’s out for Summer! School’s out forever!”

And as the wool caps are folded and put away during the waxing days of the year, all we can think about is Shakespeare in the park and cookouts and free bobbleheads at Astros games and movies staring Will Smith. But time, the eternal, infernal X axis of our graph marches ever forward. And soon, at the cannon-ball graph’s zenith, we add to our outlook the heat, the humidity, the astonishing power bills and the sunburn we cannot lotion away. We come down to a low plateau, one where we’ve made peace with our revised and more tempered remembrance of how things will be. We’re still in relative climatic bliss, but we are looking forward to the time when we can wear a sweater.

This is the path that The Meat of the Fruit follows, building on the rich history of summer records past (we can taste everyone from the Beach Boys to Granddaddy); a composition by a band whose initial enthusiasm for sweet is still smart enough to get their ice cream in a cup, if only because they’ve had the Mexican vanilla melt on their cone-holding hand one time too many. Album opener 'Weak at Heart', proud and fun like an indie pop Souza march, gives way to the lusher and more tempered ‘It’s Easier to be a Hypocrite,’ who’s backing vocal coos verge on moan and bouncing synth lines are more tragedy than trampoline. From here, till the final track of the six song EP, the strangely blissful slide into darker places continues unabated like too many unfortunate summer lessons learned: roller coasters have long lines; cruise tickets do not include free drinks; the Rockets are never going to make it past the first round of the playoffs.

But just when you’ve given up and are ready to believe your fav hoodie will hang unworn in your closet forever, comes ‘A Woman or a Grave.’ The steady, at-peace state you’ve been looking for – summarizing (pun intended?) what came before with a net to the positive. It’s a short and triumphant finish to a (far too) short and triumphant album, and one that leaves you thinking the Sour Notes went for Option A, chiming xylophone and all.

Most of the music we talk about on this site exceeds our ability to do it justice in writing. The Meat of the Fruit is probably the first record to make us think we needed to take some writing lessons. It’s beautiful, in highs and lows, in songwriting and production. It’s our summer record. Make it yours. The Sour Notes CD release party is tomorrow night (Saturday) at The Mink with fellow honorary Houstonians Ume and The Lymbic System.

Stream: The Sour Notes - Various Tracks