There's so much inventiveness here in these 21 songs that a listener can't help but marvel at the pop prowess of Tony Molina. There are 21 songs in about 22 minutes here. That's a lot of material but Tony makes On This Day, his latest Slumberland Records offering, an album which constantly charms.
"Faded Holiday" is Sixties chamber pop redone for now, while "Have Your Way" is rough Nineties college rock. "Broken Down", like a few numbers here, feels Beatles-y, complete with a trumpet from Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor) that gives this a vibe like "For No One" even if fleetingly.
Recorded with Alicia Vanden Heuvel (The Aislers Set), and with her contributions all throughout, the chamber pop of On This Day is sublime. This is, like most Tony Molina albums, proof that with a little imagination and talent, genius pop can be achieved. This is a modest record in the way it was constructed, but the ideas here flow so fast and seemingly effortlessly that a listener just sort of gets knocked back a bit. What's not to love about a record with 21 mini-masterpieces of pop?
On This Day by Tony Molina is out today via Slumberland Records. Details via Bandcamp below.
[Photo: Tony Molina]