The National Splits - Fontana
(Mr. Whiggs)
As I'm sure I've written before, pop can be put into two categories, progressive and, for lack of a better term, fun. Taking a pragmatic track, neither is necessarily better than the other, and the two cannot be contrasted, that is, there is good and bad fun pop and good and bad progressive pop, each based on the ideals set forth by some archetype or Platonic form for each term (read: whatever the current innovators in each sub-genre declare to be "fun pop" or "progressive pop"), but critiquing and comparing, for example, The Animal Collective against, well, our band in question, The National Splits, is to mix up the terms of the inquiry. In my mind each label engenders different expectations and often I find myself disliking fun pop because it does nothing new with the genre, when in fact I should be championing it if it is indeed a good example of fun pop.
Case in point, The National Splits' Fontana is a good example of fun pop. While it does nothing new, and even looks back to pop from decades ago (they proclaim ties to 60s pop of the non-psychedelic variety) and one gets a Neil Youngish vibe or country-pop feel, although with Mike Downey from Wolfie fronting, that unmistakable voice, 60's country pop as seen through his lenses. Make no mistake, this album will not change your preconceptions about anything, and I doubt people who didn't like Wolfie will like this, but otherwise, it is a good example of fun, uncomplicated pop, a little too monotone as my aunt remarked, but otherwise not that bad.
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