AM/FM
GETTING INTO SINKING
(POLYVINYL)

AM/FM’s Brian Sokel and Michael Parsell are pure pop romantics at heart. The duo’s sophomore effort is rife with pretty pools of reverb guitar, floating falsetto harmonies, and washes of Pet Sounds–style timpani and percussion. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise from a group who gave the requisite sleigh-bell percussion treatment to a Beach Boys track, "Disney Girls (1957)," on their debut and whose new disc includes a 16-page photo spread of the boys frolicking in the surf. Still, Sokel’s previous job leading the early-’90s post-punk combo Franklin didn’t exactly hint at what was in store with AM/FM, whose name aptly reflects where Sinking’s musical heart resides: somewhere between the airwaves of another age, whether that be 1996 ("It Fell out of My Head") or 1966 ("All Your Dreams Come True"). Theirs is a head space occupied by a multi-generational orbit of indie-songwriter iconoclasts, from Bright Eyes to Badly Drawn Boy to Brian Wilson to Leonard Cohen, whose "Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye" AM/FM cover faithfully. In fact, if there’s one problem with Sinking, it’s that the material, appealing as it is, is too often a well-crafted reminder of something we’ve heard somewhere before.

(AM/FM perform on Tuesday December 4 at T.T. the Bear’s Place. Call 617-492-BEAR.)

Issue Date: November 15 - 22, 2001

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