4 out of 5

Produced by: Lawrence Crane (recorded by)

Label: Up

Every pop band with their splash of crass – some distortion, some scratchy vocals, some swears, whatever – wants to he Quasi.  Or, rather, wants to be what Quasi is, and what the group – the duo of too-much-talent Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss – achieve with such seeming laidback ease.

There are notes here of what was happening in indie, as well as relevant bits from each performer’s past: The loud guitar worship of labelmates Built to Spill, the harmonies of Elliott Smith, the loose jangle and crunch of early Pavement, the rolling and shifting beats of Sleater-Kinney.  But Quasi also prefigured the pop maestros of the upcoming era; the Barsuk sound of Death Cab or Nada Surf, even, I’d suggest, shoutier emo stuff like the Saddle Creek crew.  And Ben Folds Five figures in this equation somewhere, with Quasi offering a less whimsical (though more fiercely sardonic) and certainly less sappy version of BFF’s piano pop.

And maybe none of those references sound all that appealing.  Lord knows I’m not a fan of most of the acts I just mentioned.  But, as ever, it turns out to be a thing of balance.  Coomes’ endless musings on the drudgery of the day-to-day err toward snark over sadness, while also staying fairly straight-forward and not trying to be too clever about things.  Musically, the anarchic squeal of a 99 Tears-esque keyboard on the opening track should make it clear that the delicate sing -song and happy-go-lucky riffs aren’t the whole picture; indeed, most songs crawl from or toward a mess of distortion and subtly aggressive stickwork from Weiss, while Sam offers thoughts on, y’know, how it’s a good thing life is short.  Meanwhile, when we do go with a stripped down sound (Janet’s ‘Tomorrow You’ll Hide’ or the warbly ‘Please Do’), the honest smirking-shrug of the lyrics saves it from sap, not to mention the solid production – employing choiceful pans and a level mix – and smart use of half-familiar tunes, guaranteeing a sound that’s both accessible and unique.

Coomes does have some difficulty getting away from his favored topic of depression, though, leading to a bit of sameness when drifting from track to track, and same goes for the default head-bobbing guitar strum style, but there’s absolutely enough pep and variation to keep things from drifting too far afield, and the seamless flow has that tendency of turning tracks that sometimes bore into your sudden favorite song.

Quasi certainly had their time in the sun, but it always felt like they were just shy of the indie superstar mark.  And it turns out its maybe because they’re a bit frayed at the edges, that slightly wild look in their eyes that scares the locals just enough.  But come on, you’ve had your pretty pop fill by now, yeah?  So hang back and jam with the scary kids for a while.