While I don’t trust that many musicians read the reviews I write of their music, if I could pick one message that I would pass on to all of my favorite bands it would be: Enough with the elephantine album gestations. Two (or three, as it has become) years between albums is the industry standard, and that’s too much. Four years or more is inexcusable, barring horrible skiing accidents or frequent drumkit theft.
The Beatifics, a power-pop act from chilly Minnesota that draws from the kind roughly strummed rock of the Replacements, are today’s offenders. They put out a gem of a debut in 1998, entitled How I Learned to Stop Worrying, and more or less disappeared, barring some reportedly wishy-washy live appearances. After four quiet years, they’ve finally put out the first substantial nugget of new music since their debut, a five track EP titled In the Meantime.
With a set up like this, it’s not terribly surprising that the peanut gallery isn’t really paying attention. But rabid power-pop fans, a devoted lot who rarely forget a band even if they’ve been dormant a decade or more, are most certainly going to want to snatch this one up.
In the Meantime collects five songs, four of them completely unreleased and one an alternate version of “This Year’s Jessica” from the band’s debut. The title track is the strongest of the batch, a ringing/crunching Badfinger-meets-Big Star rocker. Complete with handclaps and Chris Dorn’s nasal everyman vocals, it sums up all of what the Beatifics are good at in just a few minutes. Yes, it’s a throwback to ’70s power-pop (and lord knows we’ve heard a lot of that in the past), but as these things go it’s better than most. The disc’s other three original tracks, “Different Stars”, “Outro”, and “Longest Days of Summer”, all fall into mellower Byrds-y territory. Of that lot, “Longest Days of Summer” is the best. The tune revolves around a lilting melody with the kind of gooey, my-ice-cream-cone-is-melting background vocals dribbled all over the chorus. This is the stuff for those with a sweet tooth, for sure, but that can cause cavities: both “Different Stars” and “Outro” are fairly inoffensive and barely noticeable, even on repeat listens.
So In the Meantime is a tough call, then. If you’re already a fan, you’ll undoubtedly want this stuff, and will probably love it. However, if you didn’t hear How I Learned to Stop Worrying before it became impossible to find, In the Meantime is unlikely to draw you in. But this EP is a beacon of hope, signaling the return of a good band that may well produce a great sophomore record. Let’s just hope it isn’t in another four years.