As unlikely as it might seem, there are still those in music-loving circles who turn their noses at the notion of pop music as a complex and transcendent entity. It's a safe bet, though, that these misinformed naysayers have never heard of artists like the Poolboys. Started at the University of Kansas in 1997, the band was the brainchild of high school friends Chris DeTray and Tyler Clements, who enlisted fellow Kansan Rob Hockney to help produce a demo CD. Tackling academic endeavors during the week and hitting the road to tour on weekends, the trio eventually graduated KU and moved to Nashville to pursue music-related endeavors on a full-time basis.
The group's fourth studio album, Moving to Summerville, recorded with transplanted Alabamian Tim Maglothin on bass, is a veritable showpiece of hook-filled pop know-how culled from a variety of sources, some more likely than others. "First Day Home" and "Both Eyes Blind" show what it might sound like if Caedmon's Call hired Paul Carrack as lead singer and played nothing but Normals and Cadet cover tunes. "Run to You" and "You Are My God," on the other hand, are equal parts modern worship (i.e. that which most groups who aren't into rap or nu-metal are including on their records just to be safe) and late '60s/early '70s Jesus Music.
Elsewhere, PFR's "Goldie's Last Day" must surely have been playing in the background when the quartet penned the bouncy, decidedly Beatlesque "All Around." The likewise energetic "Far Off Now," is sure to please aging head-bangers everywhere, by virtue of the lads' (more than likely unknowing) appropriation of the guitar riff from Judas Priest's early '80s metal anthem "Living After Midnight." And the naggingly infectious "That Makes You Smile" is the sort of song most people won't admit that they like but secretly listen to over and over when no one else is around -- a sort of "Big House" for the folk-loving crowd.
While points of reference for the new record are certainly copious enough, labeling the Poolboys as mere imitators does the foursome a serious injustice. Although the bulk of the ingredients that make up the Summerville project are, admittedly, familiar enough to most listeners, the finished product is very much the group's own -- as unique as it is pleasing to the ears. And even though the record sports a fairly large diversity of musical styles, its songs lock together in a surprisingly cohesive whole, a la the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's album (albeit on a far less momentous scale). For those still thinking of pop music in terms of pink hair, pierced navels and pre-recorded vocals, Moving to Summerville offers an eye-opening alternative of the most sublime and convincing type.
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