Every Sidewalk

Charming straight-up pop album based on layers of acoustic guitar strumming and two-part vocal harmonies. A perfect Summer album laden with sing-along tunes. At times, it sounds like what would happen if Belle and Sebastian had grown up around campfires in America's heartland. Intense and frenetic drumming moves things along, but always in a subtle way. Various instruments (saxophone, xylophone, kazoo) pop up for specific parts in the songs. Lots of perky hand-clap percussion. Some songs are repetitive of others, but every song is play-worthy. All songs mid-tempo or fairly fast unless noted.
FCC Clean Start with: 1, 3, 7, 12 then 5, 6 ,8
Reviewed by: Coop

1. **Summertime anthem, bouncing vocals, sing along chorus,
2. led by organ, vocal harmony
3. **immediate vocal hook, delightfully innocent lyrics, organ and sax
4. rambling electric guitar, honky-tonk piano, and banjo give a country feel to this one, amusing tambourine shakes and whistle noises during chorus
5. *contains guitar riffs that would fit in a huge-sounding power-pop tune, but are kept mellow here to good effect
6. *fairly slow tempo, super mellow, laid-back vocals, decorative piano, xylophone, and celesta, campfire song
7. **irresistible guitar hook starts this one out, overall sound of the album perhaps comes together best here
8. *background banjo and chimes, kazoos used surprisingly effectively
9. sax-and-guitar interplay, hand-clapping, great bridge and chorus, strong vocal harmony
10. mildly distorted guitar, brief random instrument noise at end of track
11. fast, electric guitar makes appearance, repetitive of other songs,
12. ** well put-together song, woodwinds and brass interlude at 2:10, peaceful