We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized
Nine Mile
2019
Rating: 7 inky fingerprints out of 10
With two albums in three years, this is what Spiral Stairs (aka Scott Kannberg) working at an unrelenting, breakneck pace looks like. Much like his last release “Doris & The Daggers,” it’s impossible to escape the Pavement comparisons – too much baggage at this point (both for Spiral Stairs and long-time listeners like myself), and given his penchant for “covering” Pavement songs live, Scott appears to be happy (or at least content) walking towards the comparison, not away from it. With his own material, he’s taken that quintessential Pavement indie-slacker vibe and paired it with an attempt to create modern classic rock – lots of eighties-esque horns & keyboard arrangements, chiming guitars, and a clear nod to the legacies of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and their ilk. Second track “The Fool” is an especially strong offering, as is the album opener, the pseudo-title track “Hyp-No-Tized.” The rest of the album might not be great but it’s still pretty damn good. I’m by no means claiming this is a groundbreaking piece of art, but I know I like it while I’m listening to it, and sometimes that’s good enough. Not all good rock music needs to require a lot of thinking (or words written about it).
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