If you've felt that strange and wild rumbling that seems to emanate from somewhere out in the Midwest, it's a safe bet that it's coming from Minneapolis, the burgeoning musical Mecca that has launched more than a few successful bands in the last ten years. One of the groups to catch the attention of a national audience is These Modern Socks, the brainchild of front man Corey Palmer. Palmer has enlisted the talents of Nick Tveitbakk, Al Bergstrom, Park Evans and Adrian Suarez to flesh out the distinct brand of groovy space-funk that he began to hatch on the self-titled first release when Socks was merely a solo bedroom project. Picking a Lock at the Speed of Light is the second full-length release for These Modern Socks and the first with the whole band playing on the album.
While the maiden Socks release was filled with introspective, singer-songwriter fare, Picking a Lock… is the launch pad (both metaphorical and literal) into something far more exciting. "This record is number one; romance and number two; space. I toyed with the idea of writing [kind of] a love story front to back, and then the whole space thing came in about a song into it," says Palmer. With intriguing storytelling and catchy melodies, the new album pulls together a diverse batch of influences. "For this record, it was definitely a lot of kind of gritty 70s soul-groove stuff. Old Al Green and Isley Brothers, a bunch of Stevie Wonder and stuff like that, at least for the groove portion of it. Everything on top of that, the synthesizers and stuff, was definitely kind of a Star Trek theme," says Palmer, a self-admitted sci-fi nerd.
Pairing these gritty grooves with Death Cab-like melancholic lyrics lends the album a possibly unintended feel of third dimension, futuristic, government-engineered happiness. "We just tried to make a dance record that had some depth going on, a little sadness going on. You don't hear many sad dance records anymore." Perhaps in the Socks' future, music has devolved into a blip-slide laden ocean of trippy dance beats. Picking a Lock… is simply the traditional songwriter of 2050 working within the "modern" pop sound—even the most melancholy she-left-me-now-I'm-sad lament will get you shaking your spacesuited derriere.
Featuring one of the best late-night beats heard in a while, the title track on the album fully explores that dirty, basement groove that undoubtedly played backdrop to the "space adventures" of previous generations. Hidden among the beeps and scratches on the album, a variety of neuroses seem to emerge from the cracks. While slick production evokes a sleek, clean future, apparently our hero is still envious of the "Worry Free Lifestyle" and pining away for the one he clearly didn't please ("I couldn't romance her/I got the wrong answer/When I proposed.") The record features a nice balance between floating, chill numbers and jagged, synth-heavy tracks.
While the narrative is kept up throughout the oeuvre, one does wish that some of the tracks might have been given a little more prominence. "On the Moon," the final track, carries such excitement and energy that another half off an album was expected in which to wind down from the exultant guitar work. "No One's Gonna Miss Me" is a bit of an underwhelming album opener, but certainly does the job of letting the listener know what's to come, with a scratchy chug-a-chug beat that wouldn't be out of place on a Mark Mothersbaugh soundtrack.
Palmer's voice finds that balance between a Sufjan Stevens/Ben Gibbard hybrid and his own brand of teenage space-angst, twisted and enhanced by a variety of overdubs and electronic modification. When you lay his vocal delivery on top of the straightforward lyrics, the songs take on another level of endearing awkwardness, as the hero takes on the persona of a socially inept cousin whom no one wants to sit next to at Christmas. ("I know I'm over my head/And hanging on by a thread for life/No one's gonna miss me/Maybe just my family.") Other standout tracks include the grimy, spacey "Wooden," the desperate "Where I Came From," and "Space Bars," with its ultra-chill lounge vibe.
As we move forward into the 21st Century and beyond, we may look back to These Modern Socks as the heralds of the "modern" love story—boy is bored with mundane futuristic life, boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl dumps boy, boy takes off in spaceship to roam the stars in search of a galactic balm for his heartache. These Modern Socks are certainly no strangers to discovering new and exciting musical territory, but having conquered both earth and space, where will they take us next?
--Mark Sanderlin
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These Modern Socks’ Picking a Lock at the Speed of Light album is available now on Dead Electric Records.
