At a certain point, you really do have to start wondering what in God’s name is in the water in and around Dayton, Ohio. You can dial all the way back to the art damaged punk dissidence of the late and greatly lamented Brainiac, move through the Breeders’ brand of Midwest indie rock, spend a couple years contemplating the varied Who translations within the Guided By Voices/Bob Pollard personal library of congress, and consider the scorched earth pop of Swearing at Motorists, and you won’t be any closer to an understanding of what makes this region tick creatively. And Drexel isn’t going to further your studies either. The duo (vocalist David Sparks, keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Brian Pelfrey) has been plying their strange trade for a decade, resulting in a pair of albums, including their 2002 debut, Drexel, Ohio, and their just released River of Chowder. Describing Drexel in a manner that sticks is like trying to pin a corsage on your epileptic girlfriend before the prom. Utilizing Sparks’ Fozzie Bear-meets-Chuck-Cleaver voice and Pelfrey’s airport lounge electric piano, the pair imagine a world where the first Tom Waits album is produced by Van Dyke Parks, co-written by Laura Nyro and Carole King, hipped up by Burt Bacharach, and draped in the tiny unironic piano dramas of Randy Newman and the sophisticated hillbilly sheen of Jim James without a single self-conscious hesitation. Like caviar, scotch and stamp glue, the first taste might come as a bit of a shock but repeated exposure will surely elicit a grudging appreciation for Drexel’s quirky charm.
~ Brian Baker
