Fancey

Yet another branch of the New Pornographers’ tree, Todd Fancey follows in the footsteps of just about every other of the group’s members and has released his first solo record. With production help from fellow Pornographer Kurt Dahle, Fancey finds its sound falling somewhere between the Sunshine Fix, Bay City Rollers, post-Brian Wilson Beach Boys and an AM-friendly Pink Floyd. Unfortunately, Fancey is unable to give us more than a couple of strong hooks on the record, though cheery opener "Carry Me,” beautiful closer "I’ll Be Down” and cheese-fest "’Til The Morning Comes” do manage to stumble across a great melody or two. Fancey was also recorded with three producers, which certainly begins to explain why every song is swamped in layers of bells and whistles that sound terrific when the songwriting is on, but become downright overbearing when they’re left as the sole interest. It’s a shame that he didn’t give us more tracks like "I’ll Be Down,” but this is by no means a train wreck or a completely regrettable record, either. There are a couple of solid singles here, after all, but not nearly enough to carry his sound for more than the length of a short EP.