In Zen & The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, author Robert Pirsig defines the now lost word Chautauqua as “an old-time series of popular talks intended to edify & entertain, improve the mind and bring culture & enlightenment to the ears & thoughts of the hearer.” When listening to the new album Oh My Darling, Quarantine by Senryu, I couldn’t seem to shake that term from my mind. When I delved further into what exactly a Chautauqua was, I discovered that those talks on politics, morality & science were always accompanied by “musicians (opera ensembles, string quartets, but also more lighthearted music), dramatic productions, entertainment of all sorts.” I smiled when I read that & thought, “yeah, sounds about right.”
This Saturday, Senryu will release their fourth album (see the previous Stars & Gartars, Bath Of Broken Glass and Pssst), a short recording with the quirky title of Oh My Darling, Quarantine. Yes, Saturday is not the normal day for a new album release but the band that has grown, recorded and flourished outside the sometimes restrictive rules of the music industry & is doing what they do best - releasing a rare, short run CD at a concert (Pilot Light: Knoxville, TN with Jucifer). A recording you may not be able to find again, or even beg of the band, that is full of gems their true fans will go to any lengths to buy. These rare EPs and albums are Senryu’s Chautauqua, bringing “enlightenment to the ears & thoughts of the hearer.” On this Tuesday, the traditional day for the release of new music, I find myself in the extraordinary position of being the first person to possess a copy of Oh My Darling, Quarantine. I feel as if I have been initiated into a hidden society.
Oh My Darling, Quarantine begins with an introduction, ‘Hey Gravity,’ a short schoolyard style chant about hidden angel wings, and quickly moves into ‘Posture Perfect’, a song that begins reminiscent of The Strokes’ ‘Last Nite’ and evolves into a Shout Out Louds, Boy Least Likely To style pop sing-a-long. ‘Plastic Sugary’ is without a doubt a single, you can listen to it on the band’s MySpace, the single that will have you jumping around at their next show. I have no idea what ‘Plastic Sugary’ is but, hey, whatever, this tune is punk, and shout-y without being too punk and shout-y. Senryu has a particular knack for being able to do that, take a listen to ‘I Am A Battering Ram’, a staple on their MySpace, and you’ll see what I mean. ‘The Glory Of The Morning When I Met You For The 2nd Time’, is a song I thought meant something different than what you are probably thinking as well. It starts off light and silly and slides into a surprising sweetness mid-song with a Muse-like downturn in tempo. Next is ‘Alstublieft’ during which I find myself wanting to be that girl on a plane, ‘Cannibals And Missionaries,’ a strange and haunting song, and to end it all perfectly, my pick for a single, ‘The Breathing Machine.’ When I first listened to ‘The Breathing Machine’, I could think of only one word of description: epic. With threads of I’m From Barcelona & Avett Brothers, it soars with indie pop brilliance that makes the entire LP hard to forget.
What makes this latest installment from Senryu stand out most is that each song is distinct and interesting, incorporating different musical genres and devices which together cry Americana. It’s a little ragtime, punk, country soul and old fashioned rock and roll stirred into one and reinvented in a manner that comes off as both intriguing and endearing. As I listen, I find that what I really crave are the lyrics to interpret it all. Every song gives off a premonition of future performances where the words will be sung loudly back to the band and now that I’m in this secret society, I want to be able to sing too.
I would like to thank Senryu for a first chance to listen & for once again creating a group of songs that I am finding extremely difficult to get out of my head… not that I would want to.
MP3: ‘Plastic Sugary‘ [alt link] [alt link 2]
