“Pure genius!” proclaims Minipop’s Matt Swanson regarding Radiohead’s historic decision to allow the world-wide masses to put a price on their new, label-free / format-free music. “It’s nice to see a band in their position showing a higher respect for their fans than the industry.”
Touché! However this San Francisco based indie-pop quartet (Swanson on keys and guitar, Tricia Kanne vocals/guitar, bassist Nick Forte, and Lauren Grubb on drums) will be releasing their debut record A New Hope in the traditional mode via brick-and-mortar retail and online.
Graduates of the Noise Pop Festival and a staple of the Bay Area’s LIVE 105.3 radio, which has pumped their anthemic single “Like I Do” in heavy rotation for the past year, Minipop’s sound is anything but small. Produced by Chris Manning of Jellyfish fame, the sum of the band’s parts is greater than the individual. Literally. “We recorded all of our parts separately, which allowed us to make the album more layered and full - though not impossible to reproduce live.”
Manning, who was recommended to the band by a mutual friend over five years ago, is credited with the overall sonic quality and feel of the album which vacillates from dream pop to shoe-gaze ala Mazzy Star, Spiritualized, and Sixpence None The Richer.
The tracks which comprise A New Hope were recorded “all over the Bay Area.” Kanne’s delicate yet hypnotic vocals provide a hazy tether to Grubb and Forte’s hard rock leanings and Swanson’s orchestral yearnings. Among the distinguished indie rock guests that contributed to the overall grandeur of Hope include Matthew Cuniz accompanying Kanne on a vintage Fender Rhodes for the sleepy ballad “My Little Bee,” Adam Donkin rendering Moog synthesizer counterpoint beneath “Wearing Thin” - a cut Pink Floyd would surely admire, and guitarist Jon Warren aping Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed on “Ask Me A Question.”
“This album is a mix of really old and brand new songs - some we had never played before,” notes Swanson. “We mainly worked off demos, starting with the music. Tricia usually begins with a melody and then writes lyrics based on the mood of the song. From there, we worked as a band on the arrangements.” Favoring the album as the optimum way Minipop music should be experienced as opposed to individual downloaded tracks, Swanson opines “sometimes that breaks up the album…plus it doesn’t allow the listener to explore other songs that they may enjoy. We appreciate a full album, with full artwork, presented the way the artist intended it - and we do know there are other people out there like us.”
The drowsy arpeggios and angelic melodies which define the title track close out the record with a somber fade-out. “This album has recurring themes of love and hope - even the dandelion on the cover signifies that same vision...” claims Swanson, who also makes a point that Minipop’s hometown has a strong music scene which keep them on their collective toes. The musician cites Built ForThe Sea, Silian Rail, Foxtail Somersalt, Overview, and Bellavist as their local favorites.
But what was it that brought Minipop together in the City by the Bay? Swanson shrugs “serendipity!”
--Tom Semioli
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Minipop'S A New Hope will be out on Tap Root Records on November 6, 2007
http://www.minipopmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/minipop
