I'll never be a full-fledged, Pitchfork-approved, Indie rock hipster. I like melodies too much. And harmony. And pitch-perfect voices. As much as I enjoy John Darnielle's lyrics, for example, I just can't get excited about The Mountain Goats or about the lo-fi aesthetic, in general. I blame my father, who, as he tells the story, used to put me to sleep by tuning the radio to the local easy listening station. While the five-year-old Darren slept, Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini, and the Fifth Dimension worked their voodoo, filling my ear with thick chords and beautiful, beautiful voices. When I got a bit older, my parents moved me downstairs, directly beneath my dad's hobby room, where at night I could hear the lower frequencies of his Four Freshmen and Stan Kenton records seeping through the floor. I'm convinced that's why the first element of a song I hear is always its bass line.
This weekend I bought what will surely be my favorite new album of 2006, The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake. It's delicious indie pop with an early-'70s vibe -- reviewers are comparing it to Fleetwood Mac, Bread, ELO, and Blue Oyster Cult (!) -- but what has me most excited is the unapologetic beauty of singer/songwriter Tim Smith's voice and the lush vocal and instrumental arrangements that surround it. The Song of the Moment, "Roscoe," isn't actually the best example of this, but I always feel a pang of consience offering free mp3s from a brand new release. ("Roscoe" is the single and is available elsewhere, including the CD sampler in this month's issue of Paste.) I've probably listened to this damn song fifteen times in the last two days and it just keeps getting better.
Inspired by Smith's voice -- and by that nagging question, "who does his voice remind me of?" -- I browsed through my collection and culled three old favorites. Listening to Van Occupanther, the voice I hear most often is David Gilmour's. I don't think he gets enough credit as a vocalist, especially on the earlier recordings. "Fearless" is one of those songs people tend to forget about because it's sandwiched between "One of These Days" and "Echoes" on Meddle, but I've always really liked it. I also hear a little Paul McCartney, especially on "Young Bride." If I had a Wings album, I probably would have pulled something from it, but "Mother Nature's Son" is a pretty great second choice. And then there's Radiohead. "The Tourist" is, I think, the best showcase of Thom Yorke's tenor. He slips into a falsetto on that first "slow down," but otherwise it's really pure. I also hear Rufus Wainwright and, lord help me, Christopher Cross (check out "Head Home" and tell me if I'm crazy) but, well . . . another day.
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