The opening cut \u201cWanna Be\u201d (if the real track 1 \u201cBlinkpt\u201d is considered an actual song at all) on the debut record Lookatyourself Reggie Measuresworth<\/i> by Brooklyn-based Sothen starts off with the words \u201cI don\u2019t want a cheesecake or a new menu \/ I don\u2019t want a newer hat \/ I don\u2019t want a phony fuzzy pony \/ I don\u2019t want a baby cat.\u201d <\/p>\n
This perfect attempt of adolescent poetry gets even better with the chorus \u201cI just wanna be really mad for a girl,\u201d which is just right for a band wanting to attract its target audience — teenage college kids, who, of all the music listening populace, are most likely to identify with this kind of reference to everyday details of their lives. Or are they?<\/p>\n
Sothen does give the impression of a typical college indie band that makes fun guitar-based music with lyrics that will not send one running to the dictionary or leave one with hours of relentless contemplation just to get the vague references made by the band to things that are beyond the comprehension of a typical beer-binging party addict who doesn\u2019t need to be bothered with music that should make them take time off from their days of youth to waste on heavier things in life that involve pondering and reflection.<\/p>\n
But Sothen is not your typical college indie band. Although this trio (brainchild of singer\/songwriter\/guitarist Reggie Measuresworth) writes mostly poppy numbers that might every now and then encounter subjects that an uptight music snob might find a little too trite and puerile, these guys — unlike the rest of their kind — spend way less energy on trying to inject needless melodrama when they are trying to sing of their love not being received on the other end the way they want it to (and be all \u201cemo\u201d about it), and actually focus on being musically creative and giving a song the best sound possible.<\/p>\n
These guys make a conscious attempt to actually make their songs sound interesting, and they get full points for that. They aren\u2019t exceptional songwriters and none of the musicians stand out as extraordinarily brilliant. Nor does Measuresworth himself have vocals to die for. But just by being imaginative, they transform their songs from ordinary pop numbers to brilliant gems that even the aforementioned music snob would appreciate.<\/p>\n
Sothen\u2019s influences seem varied, and that shows in its music as well, which, apart form the fact that it doesn\u2019t follow a set formula, has a nice diversity that makes the album all the more interesting: \u201cThe Red\u201d has an shoegazer\/ethereal pop flavor, while \u201cEnd Of Summer,\u201d without sounding like a ripoff of The Cure\u2019s \u201cOut Of This World,\u201d does bear a stark resemblance to it. \u201cSurprise,\u201d \u201cNerve\u201d and \u201cBight\u201d are early ’90s indie rock\/grunge, whereas \u201cI Can See,\u201d \u201cGold Eyes\u201d and \u201cFrozen Lawn\u201d are frat-house staples that have the potential to be appreciated outside the confines of a frat-house as well.<\/p>\n
Lookatyourself Reggie Measuresworth<\/i> is a record by means of which (as expressed by the band itself on its website), \u201c[Sothen] can rock out for you in your home or by your pool,\u201d or in your car or at the gym or wherever you please. This can be a fun album and a serious one at the same time; it has something for all levels of music aficionados.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":28817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7970],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40316","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sothen","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40316"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}