September 9–16, 1999

disc quicks|rock/pop

The Aluminum Group

Pedals

(Minty Fresh)

Chicago brothers Frank and John Navin have been making soft, melodic, ’80s-style pop since 1990. Their stuff is so catchy and suave, what people miss is that these guys are looking for dark shadows to balance out the bright spots. Enter producer/artist Jim O’Rourke, who has an almost blindingly bright spot for Van Dyke Parks-like arrangements, Brian Wilson-esque layering and Bacharach-style melody. O’Rourke has taken Aluminum Group and remade them in his image. His friends like Sean O’Hagan, Doug McCombs, Rob Mazurek, Amy Warren and Edith Frost add a sinister symmetry to the Group’s taut, quaint pop. "Lie Detector Test," the dark "Two-Bit Faux Construction" and stagy cabaret of "Miss Tate" are filled with squealing analog synths, old Moogs, harpsichords, clavinets and banjos. O’Rourke builds up cracks and bubbles along the lush, plush wall of sound. When the delectable melody creeps out, it must winnow its way through O’Rourke’s fissures. Not that the Navins haven’t added their own queer sensibilities. The lyrics — sharp portraits of love falling apart — are pretentious, strange and dead-on. And their traditional sound of cool ’80s synth strings, tinny drums and intertwined acoustic/electric piano and acoustic guitar is, save for a few well-placed cracks, mostly intact.

—a.d. amorosi