Morning Spy – The Silver Age

There is something just so fun about handclaps. Think about it. Visit any pre-school and you’ll see just how often they are used in children’s songs. Who doesn’t love “Bingo” or “If You’re Happy and You Know It?” Clapping connotes glee and an attitude of carefree abandon. And there seems to be little of that in highly pretentious, self-righteous indie-rock world. Maybe that’s why Morning Spy sounds so delightfully out of place with its bubbly, insouciant brand of hook-laden pop. Even on the bubbly song “Foggy Filter,” with menacing lyrics like “The allure was tragic” and “My intentions were off kilter,” the band manages to insert perfectly out of place snappy handclaps. It is just one of 10 mostly catchy indie-pop tunes off the band’s first full-length album The Silver Age.

For anyone still mourning the recent breakup of Beulah or Luna, Morning Spy might sound a little like an eager, admiring younger brother, more than ready to follow their footsteps. Vocal duties are fairly split, alternating between Jon Rooney, who sounds much like a less nasally Dan Bejar, and Allison Goffman, whose saccharine sweet, ready-to-please vocals remain surprisingly endearing and rarely grate. Equally sweet are song titles such as “Sugar Witch” and “Honeysuckle Baby” whose titles alone could induce a diabetic coma. Thankfully, the candy-coated titles are actually covering up some pretty dark, albeit fairly cryptic lyrics. That’s probably what makes the album so impressive.

Morning Spy’s ability to maintain a dreamy, jangly sound without ever sounding unabashedly optimistic is what makes this album more than a mediocre rehashing of the standard pop formula. The majestic opener “Princess Vancouver” is a perfect example of this. It crisply sparkles, as Rooney confidently states, “Princess Vancouver, You asked me to soothe her / But she was long gone / you had a dream / to live free, to live free, to live free.” The last lines dissolve into a gorgeous pseudo-yodel and as the propelling guitar chords swell you begin to believe, despite the present despair, that that dream may actually come true, even if the lyrics suggest otherwise, the tone allows hope to linger.

“In the Silver Age” is also of lyrical note. The burdens of youth are smartly recalled over dreamy guitar. “You mention fear is a girl’s best friend / It was hard and you were spent / Couldn’t pay your rent / Your 20s were filled with awful events.” Funny thing is these depressing words also happen to culminate more pseudo-yodeling with its giddy chorus of ba-ba-da-das. “Two Horses,” a track off the band’s previous EP, is the immediate standout. It’s accessibly catchy with its jangly guitars, tinkling keyboard flourishes, and less-dour lyrics.

However, as a whole, album isn’t entirely successful. The last two tracks, the mildly irksome “Overnite” and “The Slow March to Salt-White Sleep,” stray from the indie-pop formula of the previous tracks, and they fall prey to unnecessary length and self-indulgent tendencies. “The Slow March” is an entirely instrumental track that sluggishly meanders and never seems to amount to anything more than a band testing the limits of their listeners with five minutes of gratuitous droning. This is a band that should stick to what it knows – sugary, yet somber pop, – hand claps, yodeling, and all.