There's a lot of invention in the music of Daryl Johns. There's also a lot of throwback genre-hopping. Daryl Johns, the new release on Mac DeMarco's label, brings a lot of smiles thanks to a consistently engaging liveliness.
"I'm So Serious" and "Whoops" owe debts to Seventies pop. The tunes are shiny, and full of sleek surfaces, and a dash of Eighties radio-friendly New Wave-y keyboards. Even better is the chirpy "Friends Forever" which recalls for me the best stuff from Spookey Ruben (remember him?). "Barbecue in the Sun" strikes out for a similar vibe. Lots of these vocal numbers seem in thrall to early solo Lindsey Buckingham, and even Matthew Wilder.
Where Daryl Johns is less interesting to this listener is on the many instrumental numbers. Johns has a knack for replicating a kind of disposal lite pop that is very winsome, but when he's not singing, the material just isn't as compelling. Fans of Eighties synth-pop will likely enjoy those parts more, but for me, I'd much rather hear Johns crank out ultra-catchy numbers like "I'm So Serious" and pretty much every other cut with vocals on Daryl Johns.
Daryl Johns by Daryl Johns is out now via Mac's Record Label.
[Photo: Kevin Allen]