relatable songs out of observations that are simple , whimsical , and just as often profound . He continues to extract wonder from tiny details . Outside the self-imposed restrictions of the Presidents ’ high-octane giddiness and Babypants ’ kid-friendly fare , Ballew digs more deeply into personal , spiritual , and otherwise mature but relatable topics . Ballew ’ s sonic palette remains expressive without flooding his arrangements with layers of sound . He apparently internalized this sensibility ages ago as a roommate to Mark Sandman , whose band Morphine was an acknowledged influence on the Presidents ’ minimalist aesthetic . “ Cold Cold Sheets ” rides an uptempo synthpop riff and motorik beat . Ballew muses about waking in bed to find his wife has left the house , experiencing a mixture of freedom and separation anxiety . The loping acoustic rock of “ Bone by Bone ” examines evolution and mortality , traveling the ascent of man from microscopic life to businessmen , no-good bums , and limousines full of screaming teens . The song has iterated through other Ballew projects , including an interpolation called “ Ribby Rib ” on The Giraffes ’ We Hear Music . The upshot is a sense that we ’ re all equally microscopic parts of nature as a living organism . The disco strut of “ Your Own Thing ” is an ode to self-care . “ A body don ’ t break when it learns to bend ,” sings Ballew . The vulnerable sentiment of “ My Heart is On Loan to You ” is ensconced in one of Volume One ’ s most muscular tracks . The song is styled as a fuzzy classic rocker with a heavy power chord drone , a snaky guitar riff , a cowbell breakdown , and Ballew ’ s caveman guitar solos . “ Soul Unfolded ” takes the opposite perspective , offering to protect the heart of a beloved partner . “ I can hold it better than I hold my own ,” he sings . The chugging song blends a twanging guitar lick with a fat analog synthesizer soundtrack . Ballew stacks his vocals for a harmony-laden , anthemic chorus a la The Who ’ s “ I Can See for Miles ” atop the electropop foundation . In “ Polyphonic ,” Ballew finds that he can extend the love he shares with one person to a positive force that radiates in all directions . With Presidents songs about slow , slow flies and dune-buggy-driving spiders , Ballew often demonstrated an eye for small things lost in their own worlds . In “ Teeny-Tiny Flower ,” it ’ s the small thing that ’ s blowing up his Ballew ’ s own world . “ I ’ ve got a teeny tiny flower blossoming in my heart ,” sings Ballew against an effervescent pop-rock beat , echoing the Buddhist lesson about the expanse of nature revealed within a single flower . The psychedelic pop of “ Just Untwist ” sounds like a blissful collision between the Beatles and the Black Sabbath . Ballew writes from the backdrop of his strict Catholic upbringing and later lessons about taking an occasional meditative recess from life .
“ My mommy and my daddy never told me I could just untwist ,” he sings in a summery melody while playing a sludgebuzzing guitar riff . “ Primitive God ” reflects a respectful disagreement with someone devout in conventional beliefs . Despite leaving his “ receiver hot and open and on ,” Ballew only encounters God as nature . With its acoustic arpeggios and languid slide guitar , the tumbling “ Radar Mind ” suggests a stripped-down version of U2 ’ s “ Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World .” If there ’ s anything here that directly echoes the Presidents ’ sound , it ’ s the one-chord song “ Submicroscopic ,” which also traces to the Beatles ’ “ Tomorrow Never Knows ” and the Who ’ s “ Join Together .” It ’ s another song about perspective , expanding to the edges of the universe and then collapsing to the tiniest fraction of a detail . “ Could you please grab me before I ’ m totally gone ,” Ballew asks while shrinking on his journey toward inner space .
Ballew ’ s new direction finds himself both a guru and disciple , with generations of pop sources to synthesize . “ Star Map of a Soul ” encapsulates the approach . The song sounds incredulously like the fusion of Devo , Eels , the Mamas & the Papas , Motown heroes , the Temptations , and math-rockers Poster Children . Add the old-school synthesizers that support so many songs on Volume One , and you ’ ve got the sound of Ballew ’ s inner shortcut toward enlightenment . bandboxrocks . com
– Jeff Elbel
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