Cheer-Accident – Admission (SkinGraft Records) – Now that trumpet that sublimely eases in some three and a bit minutes in – three minutes twenty three seconds actually – is probably one of the most beautiful things ever to happen in music, I’ve already worn out one recording of Cold Comfort, the gorgeous second track on this new Cheer Accident album, it is a pretty much perfect track. Everything about Cold Comfort is so so (so) right. Cold Comfort really has been playing on repeat here for a couple of weeks now, the first track the label or the band or whoever pulls the levers let loose (how good is that ending, what are they on about?) and it really did have us looking forward to hearing the whole thing. The whole album has been here for about a week now, and yes, it is as predictably unpredictable as the Chicago band, now on something like album 23 (not counting all the other albums they release in between their ‘proper’ album) always are. 

It really isn’t a secret, we’ve admired this band pretty much since that day their very first album landed here via a UK release on Neat Records back in the early days of Organ  What this? Have arch prog makers, have the properly progressive band gone and made an easy of the ear pop album? An easy listing album? Actually they’re always easy to listen to even when you get the idea they really are trying not to be, and if they have made a pop album it wouldn’t be the first time surely? Has Redwood Creek got a glorious 70s glam rock undertone to it before it goes as straight as any arrow Rikki Nadir ever fired. And metal guru, is it you? or is it Mott? What’s Mott got? And without their silence there’d be no sound, are the Dream Police back in town? There will come a day when I just walk away from this band, it’s just not today. 

Cheer Accident are sounding richer than ever and yes, they have made a pop album or at least a pop rock album, dare I say Yacht Rock (whatever that actually is? Let’s ask AI; Yacht rock is a term for a specific style of soft rock music that gained popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It’s often associated with high-quality production, smooth vocals, and catchy melodies. The term “yacht rock” was coined in 2005 by the creators of a comedy video series, who linked the music to the leisure activity of boating, particularly in Southern California). Whatever this album is it is a very rich one, it some ways it might be a disappointment, but there again as they have said themselves, it could very well be the best album they’ve ever made (and these people have been constantly making some of the very best albums for years now). And the way that Gold Plated Saviour moves forward is just so wonderful (and yes, there are all kinds of clever things going on under the surface, all kinds of tricks of the tail and actually, no, hang on, that bit there with the acoustic guitar, that bit sounds like The Who at their best although I haven’t quite worked out that bit about some other form of castration yet? It might well be a disappointment and at the same time brilliant? The album I mean, not the other form of castration, I just don’t know yet, is it both a disappointment and brilliant both at the same time?

What I really really like about this latest Cheer Accident album is that it sounds like a classic Cheer Accident album yet, once again, they’ve gone off to different places, they’ve challenged both themselves and us, they’ve pushed, a bit more than trying to help us through the day and Die For Me really does start out like a beautiful 70s soul song before it goes down somewhere over there and if it is a soul song then its a rather off-kilter one, a soul song only Cheer Accident could make and 10.35am, time to catch a train or play it again or end the sentence. And then we’re back with Cold Comfort and every note is just where you need it to be,every next one the right now, it is just a perfect piece of a song with every detail underneath that seemingly simple surface. And yes Beach Boys as well, and Bill Nelson, and lots of 80s flavoured things and oh they’re timeless really

it does all start off in a very mellow way, the train is on time, all very laid back, middle of the road, content with life, seat waiting, view out of the window good, hang on, let’s ask AI again; “a state of feeling happy and satisfied with one’s circumstances, even without external factors or achievements. It’s about finding joy in the present moment and being at peace with who you are” and I am the problem as those dreams collapse and reminders of what it once felt like and is there Cold Comfort in everything sounding right? We’re back to that beautiful second track again and nailing these thoughts on this album is not easy, 

“What makes it “our best?” Is it the songs?” they ask, “Is it the production? Is it the convergence of those two elements? What if we added of those two elements? What if we added “accessibility?” It is, after all, a pop album”. But they have always been accessible, they have always been easy to listen to. Is it a simpler album? Still cleverly written, laced with detail, with undercurrent, with beautiful chemistry, dare I ask if they’ve made it too accessible? Too easy? Too content? Have they simply found a sweet spot? Do I need a cup of tea? it is still complexed, just in a very easy listening art rock kind of way, it is still Cheer Accident, it is still very much what we want from Cheer Accident but then we want to so many things from the Chicago band

This is an album alive with the DNA (and that vital detail) of Cheer Accident, of previous Cheer Accident albums, at the same time it is an easy album, it is pretty much an easy listening album rather than a gloriously awkward progressive one. I like it, it might not be their very best, but then which of their many albums is the best one, I like them all, Cheer Accident always make great albums… (sw)

Bandcamp

From Cheer-Accident’s liner notes:
It’s weird to have so few words to say about our best album to date, but… well…

Our Best Album? Out of 26?
That’s not nothing.

What makes it “our best?” Is it the songs? Is it the production? Is it the convergence of those two elements? What if we added “accessibility?” It is, after all, a pop album. You know, very much in the same way that “The Why Album”and “What Sequel?” are. In fact, we very nearly named it “Now What”, viewing it as the final installment in this pop trilogy.

But that started to feel wrong, because: Why get locked into a “series” every time we happen to lean on the more melodic and concise aspect of what we do?

You know, and the thing is, this isn’t any kind of “return.” This is something new. Though it certainly shares DNA with the aforementioned What/Why releases, it also very much incorporates the rock and dissonance and experimentation present in many of our other forays. Maybe this is simply where we landed. Maybe this is what we are now. Maybe we’ve finally found the combination of ingredients that so perfectly synthesize as our aesthetic that there’s no need to go on from here. Maybe we’ve stopped. Maybe we’re done. Maybe we’ve finally found that sweet spot between the “adventurous” and the “palatable,” and we now intend to rest on our laurels.

What an Admission that would be..

Previously

ORGAN THING: Cheer Accident’s new album – oh look, if you already know then you know, if you don’t then you really should. Here Comes The Sunset cranks up the prog and a whole lot more (again)

ORGAN THING: The outrageously rewarding new Cheer Accident album, the Chicago band’s twentieth, surely they have no right to still be this good…

ORGAN: That best albums of 2020 list (at last), Cheer Accident, Michael J Sheehy, Le Grand Sbam, Odessey & Oracle, Penny Rimbaud, Terms, Allegra Krieger, Tairrie B, Deerhoof and…

ORGAN THING: The mighty Cheer Accident covering the Theme From Shaft, how cool is that…