This is a recording unafraid of such guilty pleasures as "ooh-la-la-la" backing vocals, odes to ice cream, and the sounds of flutes, harpsichords, and strings. But before you saccharine junkies get your teeth sunk in this, Barrell is also fond of the occasional shot of strychnine: the guitar lead in "Chamomile Tea" rivals bus brakes for tweeter-shredding, and the hook of "Never Knew It Mattered" features a kindly flute in one channel and a supremely pissed-off electric guitar in the other. Barrell's vocal timbre evokes a reedier, less obnoxious David Lowery, while assaying the actual melodies Lowery's eschewed while spitting out Cracker. As a songwriter, he pulls together influences from a variety-pak of power pop while displaying an assured sense of both the basics (melody, chord structure) and the nifty detail the genre requires, such as the ringing, circular riff that begins "Brand New" and the guiro (that grooved gourd you scrape with a stick) gracing "Suitcase." The slightly country, slightly psych feel characterizing that song and "Hats Off" surprised me by sounding like nothing so much as the rather overlooked '80s band Green on Red. While the album fits comfortably in the power pop section of your local music purveyor, the diverse instrumentation provides the variety that that style sometimes lacks. And a couple of tracks aren't very pop at all: "9:48" is all warped and frantic noise tension, and "Tree" lays down deep shag fuzz. Even though an array of guest musicians appears (including NZ guru Hamish Kilgour), several tracks find Barrell handling all instruments while successfully avoiding the sterility that often dogs such landlocked projects. Even though he hasn't achieved the transcendent greatness hinted at in the title (The Who from '65 to '67 or so), he at least seems to have it in his sights.

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