Standard Electric | Music Review
https://standardelectric.bandcamp.com/album/once-again
Standard Electric | Music Review
‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Drinking and Fighting’ were the first two concepts to ingest when I first came upon the music of Standard Electric. Once enhanced with the meaning of this pairing I began to wade into the wide ranging, Tom Waits meets pj Harvey, meets low brain wave requirement, ala the Ramones, intellectually quizzical world of Standard Electric brand recordings. Coincidentally ‘Merry Christmas’ is a cover song that you can hear on their Bandcamp page at the links below, which is highly recommended.
Cover songs make up the totality of tracks on ‘Renditerations’ (2021, self-published) but it would be hard to tell from first listening. If it weren’t for the well played hooks it would be hard to distinguish them as literal covers. These are more homage type covers to me, not direct tributes. Knowing this, I was drawn further into the record and explored a few of the more ‘known’ songwriters on the list, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Radiohead and Gary Numan. Standard Electric are not afraid of getting tangled up in the wires of a song, with multiple instruments and backup vocals coalescing sparingly across multiple beats and rhythms. Well thought out harmonies between male and female styles is a solid complement to the predominantly acoustic background blend and mix. The lead vocals shine on this record; wisely turned up in the mix, carefully reproduced and deftly placed in layers using both left and right channels for a great stereo image effect. Some of the percussion overdubs have a mechanical or technical thud that twigged a reaction but they behaved more like a sonic artefact than a feature accent. The Smashing Pumpkins cover stood out and checked all the boxes. But other covers, Cocteau Twins, Radiohead and the Ramones all delivered a worthy homage.
The 2020 album of original songs, ‘Overnight Lows & Afternoon Highs’ is 12 songs of musical variety that are held easily together with clever lyrics, friendly chord progressions and some thoughtful cadences and audio convergences that leave the listener with a sense of well-being and a desire for a favourite beverage and a sunset. Songs like ‘You Lost a Little’ take us on a journey into someone’s new understanding of a serious situation. Stories told honestly and played for maximum impact; timed peaks and meandering valleys. In some cases, beefy major chords sit stealthily on the returning choruses with minor progressions passing audio batons between the well placed rests. Lingering vocals and tinkling guitars appear as an overlay with hooky themes that fit within a number of indie-music genres. Appealing to a large audience is: relatable/reliable/audible lyrics, repetition and the use of recognizable song structures with precise instrumentation. If these songs were a spread-sheet the graphic would be a geodesic dome.
‘Suite Neoprene’ is the longest song on the record at 6:34 but it goes by in a streak of Jesus and Mary Chain-like sideways glances and vocal strategies. Steady bass lines and very tight drumming, though a bit dead on the low end (could be the MP3), lets this song meander from verse to verse, chorus to bridge and back again with aplomb. The harmonies help to build the intensity from minute-to-minute, hook-to-hook until the drums change it all up and now we’re doing ‘A day in the life’. The story remains consistent throughout. The connections between sections of the song are seamless and transparent enough to hear the complexities of each individual player’s innovations and skill, each separated one from the next. A very consumable production.
Overall, this is great music that gets better with every new album. I trust Standard Electric keeps digging in and showing up with these great tunes and covers and I get to do this review all over again with new material. Check out their latest full album of original songs release, ‘Once | Again’ (2024, self-published). The first song ‘Sidelines’ is a real zinger and exactly where this review ends. Until next time.
Reviewed by: Dee
https://standardelectric.bandcamp.com/album/once-again
https://standardelectric.bandcamp.com/album/xmas-2020-drinking-and-fighting
Musical style: indie, rock, acoustic rock, folk rock, jangle rock, covers and originals
Source: Internal
Website: https://standardelectric.bandcamp.com
Song Writer: Standard Electric:
• Martha Bouchier, Sue McCluskey, Pete Nickerson, Greg Potts
