The Posies - Solid States review: smells like fragrant power-pop

Solid States
    
Artist: The Posies
Genre: Pop
Label: Lojinx

Thirty years is a long time to be playing plangent power-pop, but Washington band The Posies have been applying the plectrums with persistence.

Mainstays Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow have kept the name afloat, and while there's a strong sense of the album – the band's first since 2010's Blood/Candy – preaching to the converted, it'd be a cold-hearted guitar-pop fan who'd deny just how strong a collection of songs it is.

All that constitutes highly efficient power-pop is present and correct: Beatles-esque melodies (Scattered, Rollercoaster Zen), blissfully psyched-out harmonies (Unlikely Places, The Sound of Clouds), crunchy pop/rock (Squirrel vs Snake, The Plague), acoustic prettiness (March Climes), and an overall sense of musicians that know their chosen music inside out.

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in popular culture