Olde English Spelling Bee, you’ve done it again. You’ve channeled that weird feeling I get as I sleep through late night 80s movies. The dreams of Teenage Mutant Turtles through my current perception, the hopes I had as a kid, bad MTV videos, they all come flooding back through these two songs.
Since Sam Mehran (the mind behind these recordings) deals with the sugary aspects of pop, prepare to have both of these songs stuck in your mind. If the name seems familiar, well, it is. This guy has also been responsible for a slew of other, similar projects like Matrix Metals, 90210, Wingdings, Foxy Baby and the Sweethearts, etc. But this one is where he hits his stride, where everything he learned from those previous outings got applied in a bigger sense.
As soon as you put on “I need my T.V.” Ariel Pink might pop into your mind. I mean that in the best way possible. The treated vocals, the AM quality of guitars, and the silly nature of the lyrics fit Ariel’s template. Instantly it lodges itself into your mind, along with the carefree nature of the guitar work, and the production values. It takes effort to make music sound like this, hitting all the necessary pieces of your mind.
“Burnin’ Through the Night” starts things off with some humor. Having what sounds like a crazed late-night DJ introduce the Sweethearts, you’re brought into bubblegum pop territory. As a side note, it is sort of interesting how the announcer introduces them as “The Sweethearts”. I guess Sam enjoys having this kind of self-referential universe.
Both songs are fantastic. I wonder whether or not this quality will be maintained once he gets around to releasing a full-length (fingers crossed). In case you need your fix, here’s his youtube channel.