Smug Brothers - Another Bar Behind The Night - Cassettes

Release Date: 7/12/2024Forgoing grand musical statements, magnum opuses, or even fashion, every release by Smug Brothers is a little box of hooks, each riff or refrain rolling around like a colorful pebble or marble. You can practically hear singer, guitarist, and songwriter Kyle Melton say to the listener: Look what I found. Pretty neat, huh? This innocent perspective shines throughout the Ohio indie-rock band's canon, but it reaches summer-moon brilliance in latest EP Another Bar Behind the Night. Parading cheery guitar arpeggios, Don Thrasher's stomping drums, and a kids-show mellotron line, opener "Javelina Nowhere" immediately sets the mood, brimming with all the natural joy and confidence of a toddler marching toward a merry-go-round. The pep continues onto the poppy, playful "Seamus and the Younger," which flaunts a surprising psychedelic smear in the middle. Additional lightness is provided by "The Seven-Year Inch" and "Cricket Blessings," both of which are built upon upliftin