erasing clouds
 

The Size Queens, Magic Dollar Shoppe

review by dave heaton

I know, from the Internets and whatnot, that Adam Klein and Michael Mullen improvise the Size Queens’ songs together, but while listening I still find it hard to believe. Especially with their latest album Magic Dollar Shoppe, where the songs all hold together as some kind of delirious narrative of the last few decades in the US, with a special emphasis on over-consumption, on adults and children maneuvering their way around and through sex, and on popular culture depictions of nervous breakdowns.

The band often kind of rolls along on a jaunt, punching, pop-ing, and freaking their way through jams that are occasionally tight-catchy and occasionally wilder. Klein sings in a wry way that can be funny, smart, unsettling and even touching, and usually is some combination of all that and more. There are a lot of ideas packed into these songs, sad ones that still don’t drain away the playfulness with which the Size Queens tackle this whole project. One of my favorites is “Our Price”, which starts with the slightly eerie “the world is ours / really ours / the oceans and the trees and the stars”, before running through a litany of beauty products, consumer goods, and three-day-weekend holiday sales.

Whether Magic Dollar Shoppe was created on the fly or not, there’s powerful storytelling within the looseness, holding some kind of mirror back on American society and culture. They take ridiculous aspects of our lives and make something rather interesting out of it.

{www.myspace.com/thesizequeensband}


this month's issue
archive
about erasing clouds
links
contact
     

Copyright (c) 2009 erasing clouds