Premiere: The Singles, ‘Sweet Tooth’ (full album)
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The Singles’ fourth album is aptly titled “Sweet Tooth,” and there’s no truth to the rumor you’ll be able to find it on the shelf in between Payday and Milky Way bars at the local convenience store. Not that it’d be out of place there — the L.A. trio’s follow-up to 2014’s infectious “Look How Fast A Heart Can Break” is an update of ’60s/’70s power-pop that had its roots in early rock ’n’ roll and wormed its way into hearts with big, crunchy chords. In short, a record that guitar kids can wave like a flag.
To review: The Singles, who originated in Detroit back in that city’s garage-rock boom of the late ’90s, are singer-guitarist Vince Frederick, drummer Nicky Veltman and bassist Max Goldman, the latter two of whom chime in with background vocals. Frederick relocated to L.A. in 2009, and in 2015, they had a kerfuffle with some Famous People who wanted to start a band called The Singles, but now, happily, the L.A. trio is the first to pop up when you Google “The Singles band.”
“Sweet Tooth,” made with producer Rick Parker (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Miranda Lee Richards, et al), is out Friday. They introduced the title track back in late 2015, which the band says became “the sonic benchmark” for the rest of the album, which like the Singles’ previous work forgoes the currently fashionable fuzz-pop in favor of a sound that’s crisp as morning air in the mountains. “Masterpiece” and “If You Want Me, You Can Have Me” are exemplary — guitar/bass/drums/vocals arranged in a way you’ve heard before but yet somehow sound fresh. (And stay for the guitar solo in “Baby It’s Over.”) “Sweet Tooth” is out Friday.
||| Stream: “Sweet Tooth” in its entirety
||| Live: The Singles celebrate their album release with a show Wednesday at the Hi Hat, joined by Tommy Chiffon Band, The Plexikill and Tiger Tank. Tickets.
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