Chantigs - Four Hats
(Rodent)
The Chantigs are a band that straddles the line between being acceptably good and being recommendable. In the end, though, there are too many off-putting aspects of their sound to be able to recommend this heavily Beatles-influenced psych-pop band. On one hand, they continue the trend of aping the Beatles while not being exceptionally good guitar players, which is a combination hard to stomach, let alone recommend. On the other hand, they approach their music with a jumpy, off-kilter bent similar to Camper van Beethoven that can be refreshing and enjoyable, once you get acclimated to it.
"Movie Stars" showcases the band's lineup of all rhythm guitars and no lead guitars. In what basically is a surf guitar song, the use of surf guitar is limited to five second bursts of Dick Dale-isms. For too much of the song, the singer is only backed by drums and minimal bass, making "Movie Stars" seem amateurish. "Cables and Wires" is no better, using way too much Malkmus-esque vocal "do do" and "bum bum", the instruments added as an afterthought. Songs like these are hard to sit through as they make the band seem like they are trying to get by solely on the quirky effects added to their high-pitched vocals. The rest of the music shows no ideas.
The album is not devoid of ideas, however, and there are plenty of great moments on this album. "Mount Trashmore" (the most common mountain name in America?) starts off as a somewhat mediocre pop vocal performance before it reaches the bridge. The bridge, however, is quirky and fun, picking up the pace and adding lots of jangle, singing lyrics about how "this is the bridge," reminiscent of that time when Black Francis decided to sing the Perry Mason theme. The fullness of the bridge carries over to the rest of the song, with its cute guitar soloing and the frantic chorus that ends the song.
While "Mount Trashmore" is cute and enjoyable because of its quirky ideas, other songs are just all out good. "Your Twinkling Eyes" comes closest to recreating the 1970s pop psychedelia splendor of Spirit than any one song of the last five years;
psychedelic grandeure packed into a three and a half minute pop song made almost entirely from a chorus. It's a style piece, as obvious by the 70s slang used in the song, but it's damn enjoyable and shows the band isn't limiting their scope, even if I do use the word "Beatles" 10 times in this review.
If you like your pop music loopy and quirky, the Chantigs are worth a look. While they rely on vocals a bit too much, they're inventive and playful, doing a better job of making all those Beatles-isms their own than most of those Elephant Six bands did five years ago.
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