Sweet Theories: Pocket of Lollipops are the flavor of every month

Franco Carmelino/Pocket of Lollipops/Rickolus/J Chat/Vowls/Jayel

Jack Rabbits, Saturday, February 11; $10

Maintaining a successful band is hard. Being married is harder. Doing both simultaneously usually ends in disaster, but Pocket of Lollipops has made it look easy for years now. Singer/guitarist Maitesojune Urrechaga and vocalist/drummer Tony Kapel are no strangers to Northeast Florida audiences, nor are they strangers to each other. The band is a true labor of love from two people who love the labor—and odds are beyond decent that you’ll love it, too.

They’re playing Jack Rabbits in support of their third album, 2016’s Thanks Theo, the follow-up to their universally accepted Letters to Larrup EP and one of the best albums of the year that was. So thanks, Theo, whoever you are. The band’s sound can confound even the most descriptive scribe, but there’s one word that formulates first: “Fun”. It’s jangly, propulsive pop, laced with joy and good humor, like ice cream for your ears. With a name like “Pocket of Lollipops”, that could mean almost anything, but for the Miami-based duo, it’s a rare case of truth in advertising.

It’s not just that they sound like candy; they sound like candy that you bought earlier and put in your pocket, then forgot it was there while you went about your business—work, a concert, rioting, whatever—and it melted a little bit in your pocket. You forgot it was there, until you got home later; you felt the bulge and reached in, with the kind of mortal terror one only gets when there is melted candy in the pocket of your favorite pants. But it turns out that the candy was wrapped up so well that your pockets are completely clean, and you’ve got this warm, kinda gooey mass of sugar and pectin that still retains the essence of its original shape, and instead of stressing about ruined pants, you fall asleep with candy in your mouth—and no one dares wake you up, because it’s just too cute. Real talk. (For me, it’s blue raspberry Blow Pops, but to each their own.)

Likewise, upon first listen, you might think you’re being assaulted with random noise generated by the diddling of dilettantes, but you quickly learn that the chaos is organized better than the Strategy of Tension. At first glance, you might think they’re insane, and they may very well be, but they know exactly what they’re doing. Do you? Nope. Okay, then.

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Southern Discomfort: Idle Bloom brings the new Nashville sound back to Duval County

 

The last time Idle Bloom was in town, working the Shantytown, they were known as Fancytramp, and their CDs were covered with glitter. Two years and one name-change later, and the band returns in support of the ten-song debut album Little Deaths, which isn’t even officially released until the 17^th. The Nashville-based quartet delivers a fresh variation on that now-ubiquitous indie sound, which has allowed them to thrive in one of the world’s most competitive music scenes.

“Technically speaking, Fancytramp is a different band, just has two of the same members,” writes bassist Katie Banyay, by way of correction. Singer/guitarist Olivia Scibelli leads the group through a torrent of tightly arranged fuzzbox fantasia, alongside second guitarist Callan Dwan, harmonizing over top with bassist Banyay while drummer Weston Sparks pushes the pulse forward like an offensive lineman in Flying Wedge formation. The band has grown closer and more confident during their hiatus; now they’re coming for theirs, and failure seems unlikely.

“‘Idle Bloom’ comes from a poem by Caroline Clive called I Watched The Heavens. We had the name and [Fancytramp’s] last show set up, but needed a new drummer. So Weston Sparks was suggested to play with us from a friend. We clicked instantly and he was such a trooper. He learned an entire Fancytramp set that he’d never play again! Soon after, we found a second guitar player and began as what was truly the beginning of Idle Bloom. The lineup has switched around some with Gavin Schriver being added recently.”

Issued through the Fraternity As Vanity label (FV008), Little Deaths meets and well exceeds the promise of their 2015 single Fare Fumo, a split 7” with Churchyard, yet another fine Nashville band (whose self-titled album from 2015 is a steal at $5). “Little Deaths differs from the EP (Some Paranoia), mainly by two things: I think it has a bigger sound and was planned out more thoroughly,” writes Banyay.

”With Some Paranoia we had the intention of it being a full length. It was recorded in our friend Shibby’s grandma’s basement. We were all anxious to release something. It was very ambitious of us to want to start off with a full length, so once we had all of the songs finished, we chose the best performances from that session and turned it into an EP. The songs we didn’t add to Some Paranoia, we ended up rerecording with Kyle Gilbride (plus other songs, one recorded with Joe McMahan) and those are on Little Deaths. So we had all this extra time to rework the songs and figure out exactly what we wanted our sound to be. I’m really proud of all the hard work and time we put into this album.”

Joining them at Rain Dogs will be Terror Pigeon (one of the greatest band names ever), Totally KAROL, from Tallahassee, and Ruffians, who could be called local legends about as surely as anyone working today. Bonus: Free t-shirts from promoter Big Dunn, auteur of the infamous “Smoke Meowt” line, which completely took on a life of its own last year. He’ll be starting his birthday month out in style—and so will you, if you get one of them dang shirts, for realsies.

 

sheltonhull@gmail.com