Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

In Tuesday's AM Nuggets, Matt mentioned a band, whose name sounds like a loony cult honoring a certain former Russian president than an actual indie rock band from Springfield, Missouri. But Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is indeed a band; a four-piece outfit who have begun to earn a following for their sweet melodies and lo-fi sound that come together to form some of the most pleasant and catchy music currently floating out there.

The band recently released their highly anticipated, second full length album, Perishing, last month, and after the now 10+ listens I have now devoted to the LP, I can say with full confidence that SSLYBY have not suffered from that dreaded sophomore slump. From the start, Perishing hits you hard, as the garage rock guitar rifts of its opening track, Glue Girls bring out that same rocking nature and head bopping sound you experienced when you first heard something like Weezer’s Dope Noise. While the power of the rifts soon subside to the pleasing and fetching vocals of frontman Phillip Dickey, the cool elements of rock set a precedent for the rest of the album.

This blend of catchiness and sweetness help Perishing become an album that transcends genres, featuring a sound that is as smart as the real-word, emotionally lyrics sung by Dickey. Think I Wanna Die is probably the most musically upbeat song about suicide you’ll ever hear while the Shins-esque Dead Right offers a down-to-Earth break up song backed by a gripping yet simple harmony that helps reflect the feeling of “hey, we’ve all been there before.” The album is far from perfect thanks to a few clunkers, such as the overly redundant Oceanographer, but in the end, Perishing showcase a band that is not only already tremendously talented, but also has a world of potential. Some Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are a band that define catchiness, identify with sweetness, and evoke passion, in the same way that the Shins, Weezer, and the Strokes did before them.

Thankfully for this band, unlike the former leader they took their name from, SSLYY have a long future ahead of them. As the band sings in another one of those uber-catchy tunes, Modern Mystery, “There is no modern mystery/No mystic chords of memory/There is no modern mystery/We're making up our history.” By the looks of things, these Missouri natives are well on their way to a long and successful history. 

Comments

[m]

the lead vocalist is John Cardwell, not Philip.