Review: Another Michael, New Music and Big Pop

Another Michael, Run For Cover Records, 2021

After releasing a couple of short EPs in 2016 and 2018, Another Michael flesh out their gentle vision in full detail on their debut album, New Music and Big Pop. The ten-track release steers the band away from programmed beats and textures toward glimmering guitars in the vein of indie rock post-Oh, Inverted World. In lesser hands, New Music and Big Pop would’ve been, at best, a nostalgic rehashing of the glory days of the Garden State soundtrack. Instead, the band expands upon the foundations laid down by bands like the Shins, Fleet Foxes, and FUN, trimming the fat and reassembling the pieces into something that feels both fresh and familiar at the same time.

Indie heads would be right to point out the striking similarities between the band’s frontman, Michael Doherty, and singers like Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. But Another Michael’s exploratory songwriting and optimistic worldview keep New Music and Big Pop from sounding xeroxed. The album’s heartfelt opener, “New Music,” can do no wrong with its beautiful vocal harmonies, conversational lyrics, and chorus-less structure. In the song’s final line, Doherty embraces isolation, using his loneliness as a reason to connect with the world instead of a reason to go inward: “And I want to make somеthing timeless / but timе isn’t on my wrist / I am willing to hold myself and put up with this awful loneliness / I’m kind of new.”

There are colossal hooks to be found on New Music and Big Pop, though not as many as the album’s title might suggest. In fact, the record’s weakest moment is also its most earwormy; the song “Big Pop” adheres too closely to a classic pop structure, sticking in your head in all the wrong ways. Conversely, the band sounds most alive when playfully tinkering with expectations. “I Know You’re Wrong” is a prime example, its drums weaving in and out until they drop out of the fold completely to leave space for Doherty’s sunny falsetto. “What Gives?” subverts assumptions by burying ominous lyrics under a happy melody: “I'm drinking coffee in the basement / Your pitter-patter does the trick / The deed is done and it's so sick,” Doherty sings blissfully over acoustic guitar and violin. On first listen, the posi-pop of New Music and Big Pop is easy to take at face value. But these compelling left turns — a surprising refrain or an abrupt chorus — are proof that Another Michael has more going on under the hood than some of their more surface-level characteristics would suggest.

Check out New Music and Big Pop on Bandcamp below.