New Fidelity have always channeled the early 60's Brit pop sound of bands like The Hollies, The Dave Clark Five and The Zombies but also infuse what is uniquely a Southern Californian beach sound as well. The boys hail from Long Beach, California so this makes absolute sense. Their new single is unabashedly bright and in full technicolor. It literally takes you far, far away to a place where Governors don't commute the sentences of murderers and gas does not cost $4.00 a gallon. If you allow the music to do so, it will strip away years of cynicism that can, these days, coat us all like heavy layers of paint. California Summer (A-Side) vacillates between tight bass driven post punk (reminiscent of The Jam) to a chorus hinging on bubble gum pop (reminiscent of The Archie's). Lead vocalist Dan Perkins laments being away from his California Summer expressing how he feels when he is away... "now I feel like a Buddhist Monk in a Church in Rome." The B-side entitled Never Go Away percolates with an enticingly sweet picking guitar with a heavy counterpoint of syncopated guitar power chords and organ swells following heavy bass and drum down beats. It is a wonderfully complex little dance as each musical entity played at different time signatures all fit so perfectly together. The lead vocals seem a bit more playful than on California Summer giving it a more live performance feel and I like that. Never Go Away inhabits a more power pop 80's jag in that Joe Jackson / Knack universe but let me be clear, New Fidelity is it's own planet. A planet were Beatle boots, Rickenbacker guitars and a brighter tomorrow rule the day.
Cheerz-
Adler Bloom
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