Rolling Disclosure

Album review

For those unfamiliar with the EPs leading up to their full-length debut, Rolling Disclosure, the Paranoid Style took their name from historian Richard J. Hofstadter's 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and not without purpose. Lead singer and songwriter Elizabeth Nelson channels articulate social and political observations through the group's garage-punk-pop. ("Magic, fear, and superstition are just what pays the bills.") Nelson's co-bandleader and husband, Timothy Bracy, known to some for his time with the Mendoza Line, is joined on the album by an extensive list of musicians, including Bruce Bennett of the A-Bones. The large rotating group of players contributes to a live jam feel on the record. Album highlight "Common Emergencies" is a loose rocker fueled by hooks and references to "I've Been Working on the Railroad" among its wordplay. It was co-written by Nelson and R.E.M. collaborator Scott McCaughey (the Minus 5, Tired Pony). On a record with no true ballads, "Giving Up Early (On Tomorrow)" and "Daniel in the Basement" are two especially lively tunes, with mosh-pit tempos balanced somewhat by Nelson's vocal tone, which may seem more typical of musical theater than of rock & roll. Not unlike Smoking Popes, the juxtaposition gives the Paranoid Style an attention-getting and recognizable sound. On the album's more melancholy side, "Cathedral Lows" churns and floats along the lines of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" -- dreamy but still energized. Never lackadaisical, Rolling Disclosure is the type of record that will sell tickets to shows, and maybe even inspire a new Hofstadter fan or two.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo