Jetenderpaul
The Modal Lines
Reviewed by Kindred Winecoff
Be warned: this is not the logical follow-up to The Woolen Spires. Anyone expecting the by-now-patented Jetenderpaul formula of less than one-minute songs, bizarre song titles, ambitious liner notes, cheap 4-track recordings, and muddily layered sounds should check their baggage at the door. This record is clean, premeditated, developed, distinct, and polished (to a certain degree). And the result is easily one of the better indie-pop records so far this year. Because of the differences from more traditional Jetenderpaul records, The Modal Lines was first conceived as a sort of side project for the band, with the name The Modal Lines being pre-eminent, and Jetenderpaul in the background, if present at all. The album was to contain more traditional, two minute pop songs, recorded in a more clean format. The 17-second bursts of sound on such tracks as "It's All Chicanery" are replaced on Modal by fully developed pop songs like "Before You Become Princess Belltower." The Elephant 6 style, 4-track-in-a-bedroom recording ethic present in all of Jetenderpaul's previous releases seems obsolete when faced with the (by comparison) slick production on Modal. But enough of what this record isn't. Modal offers the best pop songs of Jetenderpaul's career. The songs rely heavily on melody, as always, and Randall Stephens and Jared Miller deliver vocal lines with the sort of intelligence that demonstrates clearly that the boys have done their pop music homework. It's a clever mix of the classics - such as the Beach Boys - with the current - Apples (in stereo). A rewarding listen all the way around.