by Zak Mercado (@ciaoguaglione)
Four albums in, the 2nd Grade modus operandi remains consistent, but the explorations in genre and rock sub genres feel ever expanding. As always, on Scheduled Explosions, the majority of the songs are guided by sweet melodies and Peter Gill’s pleasant and bright voice. The length of the songs 2nd Grade offers is often compared to other contemporary power-poppers, as well as, always aptly, Guided By Voices. While accurate, the lineage is both the sweet power-pop songwriting of Big Star and solo Alex Chilton with the nearly out-of-control loudness and lo-fi production of GBV. 2nd Grade’s sonic modes benefit from reflecting on several generations of rock n’ roll with profound commentary and meta-commentary on both that history and the relatively short, but prolific, life of this project.
The first two 2nd Grade records felt consistent, gradually building on top of each other, with both pretty, slower tempo reflective songs like “Held Back” and “My Bike,” as well as well as honey-dripping sweet but muscular love songs like “Superglue” and “Shooting From the Hip.” Then came 2022’s Easy Listening, with some louder and lightly aggressive tracks like “Beat of the Drum” and “Which Itch are You Scratching Today,” along with more beautiful meditations on love and loss. On that record, there are also expressions of affinity and affection, mixed with metaphors of the military industrial state: “I call up the Pentagon to wage war on a memory;” “Never shoulda started crushing on a b-52.”
Fans and newcomers alike can be delighted that this band is consistent in its exploration of lyrical themes, but never rests easy, continually reaching for new touch points in rock history. On Scheduled Explosions we have the Troggs: “Like a Wild Thing;” there’s The Lemon Pipers/Magical Mystery Tour Beatles (elsewhere on the record: “our Beatle boots on the ground”): “Ice Cream Social Acid Test;” and there’s the general sense of sunny poppy rock, of course, painted all over the record. These reference points are simulacrum but both sincere and self-referential enough to give credence and self-justification that this music is both fun and merits being taken seriously because it’s honest and legitimate.
The choice of song length does the heavy lifting of legitimizing the quality of the songs. One could make the mistake of dismissing some tracks as fragments or underdeveloped. This is misguided. On “All About You,” a little over one minute long, there’s an intro, a verse, a chorus, another verse, a re-worked chorus into a solo, and the song ends. It’s fully baked. The lyrics speak to that as well. In that short track, there’s self-deprecation, “the losers write power pop,” but the song bites back, “and it’s all about you—” I.e., either the critic or the intended casual or otherwise engaged listener. Pleasant and delightful melodies are scattered throughout the record like wildflowers along the highway: “Joan On Ice” is built on a nice little vocal run and guitar chord progression, without any drums. “Evil Things” is “uncontrollably” catchy. “Bureau of Autumn Sorrows” is built around Costello-esque guitar mini runs on the fretboard. It’s pure magic.
Of great curiousity is Gill’s and 2nd Grade’s interest in using metaphors of defense-funded infrastructure and equipment. Some lyrical signifiers, in tradition with the other 2nd Grade records, include “missile silo,” “nuclear meltdown,” “missile command,” “cruiser missile,” “heat-seeking missile,” “targets,” “radars,” “no fly zone,” and “you’re strapped in and set to blast of.” All of this speaks to feelings of affection but also the American vernacular being filled with some of the harshest metaphors, like Cold War leftovers, or the current “wars,” are imperceptibly permeating the general mood and feel of the world, even down to feelings of romance and affection. The reality of the military state is oppressive on the mind. Found also on the record is the pressure and subconscious feeling songwriting can only be produced “under the thumb of American rhythm,” the only rhythms possibly known. This secondary (perhaps primary) oppression reflects that of harsh realities of simmering or inchoate violence in the world.
This record stays “grounded” in the mini “explosions,” of music produced. Although it feels like the lower fidelity (they feel very hand made) tape recordings seem ready to burst out of control, the production and mixing keep everything in place. The album closer speaks to this dichotomy of control, in conscious feelings of longing, with Catherine Dwyer singing lead vocals on “I Wanna Be in Your Mind.” It acts as a painfully sweet representation that maybe longing is a little painful but not as harsh as a heat-seeking missile. Perhaps desire can be both flowery and destructive.