The Leftovers: “You Know What You Do”
A couple of days ago a friend asked what I was listening to that wasn’t, you know, released in 1975 by a now-defunct rock footnote. I paused, chewing a hunk of grilled chicken and tried to shake a name out of my brain but was admittedly stumped. I spend so much time with my ears in some faraway London pub or plundering the remnants of the Paisley Underground that sometimes it’s hard to go all Marty McFly and get back to the future. Or even back to the 1990s, really.
I swallowed my bite of sandwich and honestly don’t recall what answers I gave, other than mentioning that I was high on the new Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5 releases, brand new records from—surprise!—old(-ish) bands that I loved. I came home and scrolled through all 47.66 GB of my iTunes library, realizing I could’ve talked about the David Byrne-approved blips of the Dirty Projectors, the tangled roots of Deer Tick, or the fuzzed out funk of Hockey, all stuff that’s appeared in the past couple of months. Instead I queued up some Dream Syndicate (circa 1982) and forgot about it.
Earlier this week I was introduced to The Leftovers, a power pop/lite-punk outfit from Portland, Maine…how’s that for alliteration? Since then their latest effort, Eager to Please, has been on endless repeat in my apartment. It’s all bouncy guitars and big, big hooks, with a style that would fit on my beloved D.I.Y. Power Pop compilations, nestled somewhere between Paul Collins’ Beat and The Rubinoos. That’s right, the new band that I dig sounds just like some old bands that I dig.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. Singer Kurt Baker bounces between Elvis Costello-ish vocal inflections with more than a little of Scott McCaughey’s affable yelp thrown in. In fact, if someone handed me this album and said it was a lost Young Fresh Fellows project, I would’ve believed it. I also fall for that ‘Got your nose’ trick with some regularity too though.
Give the track above a listen and then scarf up the rest of the Leftovers whenever you can. It’s the perfect summer soundtrack that’s (and I apologize for bastardizing their album title) guaranteed to please.
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