The Pernice Brothers - The World Won't End

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Free Music Notes for The World Won't End

Free Music Review: Who's *really* America's best songwriter?
Hit: 5 Stars

Torn between two opinionated friends -- one insisting this record was better than Overcome By Happiness, the other insisting it wasn't -- I took my time making up my mind, and at this point currently hold that it's *just as good* as OBH, which says volumes. The songwriting is just as vivid and tightly-packed on this CD: that "Working Girls" and "7:30" aren't being played every hour on the hour on radio stations across the nation is a sin and a crime (but sssh! Don't mention Clear Channel! They're meaner than Courtney Love. ;}). We get all the keen, evocative, ironic storytelling we've learned to expect out of Mister Pernice, plenty of gently disturbing imagery gaily dusted with auditory sugar. The arrangements are a little less sweet than those on OBH, not as much of the strings, more of the electric guitar -- yummy, crunchy, jangly, fuzzy electric guitar. I know that riff on "Flaming Wreck" is a very simple one, and it gets me *right* *HERE* with very simple joy. Every time. Louder! Oooooh ...

The sequence of the CD is also remarkable. From the opening notes of "Working Girls" through the sweetly sad fade of "Flaming Wreck" (hey, you fellow reviewer -- god, I love that forlorn 'hello ... hello ... hello' too: goosebump city, innit?), it describes a rising arc of progressively more engaging and intense songs. The relative calm of the last 3 cuts is a kind of relief after that build-up, although I tend to lose concentration somewhere during "Endless Supply", and think I'm listening to Big Tobacco or something.

The Pernice Bros. in their current incarnation serve Joe's songs as well as any of his bands ever have: this is it, you got it perfect this time, guys. And if I ever made a record, I'd want Thom Monaghan to produce it. 'Tis beautifully recorded and produced. More like this please. Um, and soon? If I buy a few more copies to give away, will you have the cash to make another record this year? How MANY more copies? Let me know. I'll call all my friends and relations to lend a hand. Just say the word.

I think reviews are supposed to end with remarks like these: if you love, say, Mark Eitzel or Elliott Smith, and you haven't heard Joe Pernice, do yourself a big fat favor and buy this record and Overcome By Happiness immediately (you can go after the rest of Joe's oeuvre after you're properly hooked). These songs have all of Eitzel's richly romantic despair, but are far less self-indulgent and more meticulously crafted; all of Smith's lush harmonic structures and layered arrangements, but tighter, more effective lyrics and a bright, electric edginess ES completely lacks. If that gives you reason to buy The World Won't End, good. My work here is done.

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