Jeanines – How Long Can It Last / Lightheaded – Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming!

Skep Wax / Slumberland

Having delivered two top-drawer albums already this year from this side of the Atlantic – in the form of recorded outings provided by The Gentle Spring and Brian Bilston and The Catenary Wires (see Freq reviews passim) – the indie-pop renaissance operations of Skep Wax now enter a creditable new co-release arrangement with the US-based Slumberland Records for two like-minded East Coast ensembles.

Thus, from New York comes the latest long-player from the more established Jeanines, in the shape of How Long Can It Last. Running through its thirteen songs in a mere twenty-two-minute runtime, this is certainly not a gathering that ever overstays its welcome.

Whilst the shortest of the compositions explains some of the attendant addictive ‘just-one-more-spin’ qualities, the infectious internal intricacies of the charmingly lo-to-mid-fi-documented material are also part of the equation.

At the fulcrum are multi-instrumentalist Alicia Jeanine’s distinctive high-register tones, around which fellow multi-instrumentalist / vocalist Jed Smith and bassist / vocalist Maggie Gaster wrap themselves around amorphously, all in total service to the songs themselves.

As a result, we’re treated to imagined late-‘80s hook-ups between The Feelies and Yo La Tengo (most notably for the shimmering chugging bliss of “You Can’t Get It Back” and “That’s What You Say”); feminine twists on Eights Miles High-era Byrds (“Coaxed A Storm” and “What’s Done Is Done”); hints of Moe Tucker’s underrated solo work (“What You Do”); C86-style rewirings of The Shangri-Las (“Satisfied”); and appealingly ramshackle nods to the likes of Dolly Mixture and The Shop Assistants (“Wrong Direction”).

Densely packed with ingredients, but never overcooked, How Long Can It Last is a moreish platter for late-comers to the Jeanines.

Sharing a similar general penchant for ‘80s-to-‘90s DIY indie and vintage ‘60s pop classicism, comes Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming! from New Jersey’s Lightheaded.

Somewhat of hybridised affair, featuring five new recordings for its first half and five reprised from 2023’s Good Good Great! extended-player, this is very much a collection of two divergent but complementary halves. Moreover, whereas Jeanines put inventive virtue into relatively lower-tech studio capture, Lightheaded go for a lusher and more textured approach, which assists their highly crafted wares just as well.

Hence, across the first vinyl side we’re spun through gorgeously lovelorn pastoral psychedelia interposed with shades of early-Belle & Sebastian (“Same Drop” and “The Lindens, The Lindens, The Lindens!”); an unabashed dual-homage to Heavenly and early Kenickie (“Me And Amelia Fletcher”); and murky yet melodic mining beneath Phil Spector’s wall of sound (“The View From Your Room” and “Crash Landing of the Clod”).

The aforementioned EP cuts, on the flipside, come in lighter but still full-bodied arrangements. This weaves us through the strings-tinged swirliness (“Mercury Girl”); warming acid-folk-rock uplift (“Orange Creamsicle Head” and “The Garden”); jangling gestures to Girls At Our Best (“Patti Girl”); and wistful Camera Obscura-like chamber-pop (“Love Is Overrated”).

With plenty of interesting and inviting corners, Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming! is a modern underground-pop treasure trove, to get happily lost inside across the remaining summer months… and beyond.

-Adrian-