Drag On Girard

Album review

Much as he just wants to bulldoze listeners with volume, Philadelphia's Mike Polizze can't help writing melodic hooks, a quality that's become more pronounced as his one-time solo project, now power trio, has now reached its seventh album. After a seven year hiatus, Polizze is still mixing Dinosaur Jr.'s guitar-as-sonic-chainsaw heft and Stooges' string buzz with lots of '90s grunge abandon into what he calls, "the muted thump of freedom rock." It's not as if you haven't heard it all before, but Polizze keeps coming up with new ways to do it again thanks mostly to his way with melody. On Drag On Girard there is evidence, however, that time has wrought changes on Polizze's once youthful exuberance. While "Stay With Us'' still has the usual Hiss roar—what the band's bio calls "high end splatter and slow-rolling low end"—a rare addition, harmony vocals, appears on "Something In My Basement" which repeats "It gets lonely, lonely" as its key chorus line. More hooks and restrained playing abound on the opener, "Yer All in My Dreams," a track groomed to appeal to a wider spectrum of listeners. Joined by drummer Ben Leaphart and Pat Hickey on bass, Polizze's axe is now accompanied by Keil Everett, whose second guitar has become more prominent in the mix, creating an audible split between lead and rhythmic guitar parts. Personal proof that Polizze is softening his messages comes on "Baby," where he sings the line "She says she's gonna have a baby," with the force of autobiography. "Out The Door'' starts slowly before becoming buzzy power pop not unlike a very distorted Velvet Crush. The recording quality here is best described as being for those who consider volume and distortion as key ingredients in their music. But then, Polizze's music has never been meant for dreamy, late-night serenades. "When The End Is Over" almost breaks that certainty, dialing back the distortion and allowing Polizze to stretch as a singer over a shockingly conventional mid-tempo indie rock exploration. Riff rock comes of age. © Robert Baird/Qobuz