Seattle’s National Honor Society only appeared on my radar recently thanks to the excellent God Is In The TV Zone website, but their new LP has been on my turntable since. It’s the soundtrack to your summer you didn’t know existed or that you needed. Straight off the bat there’s an infectious riff that you’ll be humming allday on ‘As She Slips Away’.
Coming from the North Western States more known for having a climate similar to ours but just with even more rain, they’ve found the cracks in the clouds. They’re also self confessed Anglophiles, and you can certainly hear the influences scattered across the LP in jangle pop from the 80’s and 90’s, but there’s also a big slice of a certain close harmony group from the 1960’s that spent a fair bit of time surfing on the same west coast but just a bit further south where it’s warmer and sunnier most of the time. A close contemporary reference would be We Are Scientists, their ear for pop hooks with indie rock sensibilities. ‘Jacqueline’ has a distinct feel to it, right down to its guitar solo.
There are so many highlights to this record, ‘The Following’ has a psychedelic edge but then brass chimes and they croon their way home. ‘The Trigger’ has something of britpop feel to it. The harmonies are more layered and has a cyclical lyric that spins and spins without out staying it’s welcome. Their debut was one of the unlucky ones to appear in the depths of the first lockdown and now their second album has the feeling of the release of those shackles, a brighter, sunnier outlook, like those 90’s summers that went on forever.
“The Following” was the 3rd single from the album “To All The Distance Between Us“, out April 21, 2023 on Shelflife Records, Discos De Kirlian, and Subjangle
The Fat Angel Sings 