April 12–19, 2001

cover story| local special: a roundup of area platters.

Overlord

The Wonderful World of Chemistry

(Storm Tower Records)

It takes balls to write a track and name it "The 70th Love Song," an obvious nod to Stephin Merritt’s 1999 Magnetic Fields three-disc holy grail 69 Love Songs. Yet there it is, the final track on this six-song EP from Overlord (who can be reached at no-its-not-metal@juno.com). The oddly named band (they’re really not a metal band, a point they hammer home repeatedly) pulls off the trick, however, with an appropriately sappy pop homage and nifty lyrics about boys, love and science ("Some boys’ lips are made for smiles/ Some boys’ lips are made for sutures"). Not only is it an impressive feat of songwriting mimicry, but a bit of a clue to what makes George Pasles’ band tick. Prior releases like 1998’s A Finishing Picture and ’99’s two-song Transparent Tunes could be classified as uneven: full of thoughtful stylistic influences from late ’80s/early ’90s British mope-pop but without a unifying aesthetic. While The Wonderful World of Chemistry is a bit here-and-there, too, Pasles’ musical vision is becoming sharper. The Craig Wedren-esque falsetto of album opener "Atonal" makes for an interesting leap to the AM radio jangle of "Populist Anthem" which in turn leads to the Bats-influenced lo-fi indie pop of "Meet the Situation Artist." A scientific theme saturates the proceedings. It’s plenty to convince you that there’s a cold, crooked smile on the faces of these dour poppers as they toil away in their lab.

—Brian Howard

Storm Tower Records, PO Box 15791, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, www.angelfire.com/pa/StormTower.