Time is short. The shelf life of a pop song, damn, the shelf life of a human being, is a blink of an eye. We all have an expiration date. And that’s what makes finding a band like Frass Green so very special. The album Death of Pop is not a collection of sad songs. They sing on the song “Dance,” “I’m so sick of the sad bands… / That’s all you’re ever listening to / …you know that you’re not gonna cheer up from that tune / Tonight just dance.”
Their riffs and melodies do just that to you: pick you up out of your figurative seat and dance your heart around, like someone in the throes of love. They are full of the Beach Boys’ surf rock sensibilities. They are as infectiously groovy as Dr Dog. With an instrumental gloss on this recording like The Strokes or Vampire Weekend. The tone on those guitars is like liquid gold. But on the edges of each of the songs is the reminder of how ephemeral we are.
On the beautiful, meandering song, “The Band Is Breaking Up,” they sing, “You get born, / you grow up, you go / But in that space / that’s between it all / the song fits like a glove.” There is a perfection to these songs, something many may one day hear. If the band doesn’t break up first. Of course, it’s tongue in cheek. But it’s also a reminder how short a good thing can last.
Whether it’s a warning or an admonition, it’s hard to tell. But on the EP opener, “No Passion,” they sing, “I lost so much sleep some nights / with Keats’ and Shelley’s ghosts… / I lost so much.” With two of the English language’s most passionate poets, it doesn’t seem like anything would be lost spending time with them. But that’s the power of some of the greatest art: it’s a reminder of our mortality, the vein of silver in the clay, a little bit of heaven in an overwhelmingly crumbling world.
On the album closer and title track of the album, they sing “You used to be so strong / now you’re boring everyone / You’re talking to yourself / …in solipsistic song / reaching god knows who / and I.. / just want to watch / the tv with you.” I understand the sentiment. But even with this band, who sings about bands, who critiques their own ambitions, (while reaching high above many other bands out there,) I’d still rather go see a show of theirs with my lover, than some tv show we could watch anytime.
Prism Reviews 