Right now, western audiences want more than anything else for pop music to be reflective of the diversely colorful world that we’re living in and all of the zany, incredibly wide ranging influences and styles that it consists of. One band that is making a particularly big splash in 2018 with their sound that is very difficult to categorize and infectiously memorable once you’ve given them a listen is none other than San Diego’s very own The Innocent Bystanders, who take their name from a line in the Warren Zevon song “Lawyers, Guns and Money.” Zevon has always been a bit of a lightning rod when it comes to bringing some of the most elaborately eccentric minds in the music medium together, and The Innocent Bystanders are hardly any sort of exception. Living up to the high standards he set decades ago, this California rock band is pushing all of the limits on their brand new, virginal extended play Attractive Nuisance, which is quickly becoming one of the biggest and most talked about releases of this upcoming summer.
Attractive Nuisance doesn’t waste any time kicking the energy into full swing with the song “Gotta Get Outta Here,” which also serves as one of the brightest highlights from the four song release. Borrowing from Zevon’s gritty irreverence and adding a textured layer of melody that recalls a garage rock sensibility that is oddly punctuated with an overt soul influence that adds a swaggering confidence that the song needs to get over its funk and dirge. It’s ironic when a song like “Gotta Get Outta Here,” which gleefully celebrates the darkness that it dwells in, represents the more positive side of what a band has to offer. In stark contrast, the punky “Highways” abuses a jangle pop influenced beat until it gets every last drop of sweet nectar from its branches. “Highways” is probably my nominee for best non-single track of 2018, playing out like a vintage B-side from the Stiff Records heyday in the epic full color of modern high definition stereo. The contrasting tones between each of the songs on Attractive Nuisance makes this extended play so much more fun to listen to than anything that their contemporaries are putting out right now, and although that’s a bold statement considering the volume of thoroughly talented and ambitious artists that are activating for the summer recording and touring season, I firmly stand by it and endorse this band as the most thought provoking of 2018.
If you’re looking for music that essentially follows the same blueprint as everyone else, doesn’t deviate from the set path or try anything that might be considered risky for a new act to set about doing, then I can tell you now that The Innocent Bystanders are definitely not for you. They’re a part of a renaissance of experimental rock bands that are taking control of popular music towards the end of the 2010’s, and personally, I find them to not only be the most intellectually stimulating band that I’ve reviewed this year, but also one of the most artistically appealing. This is music for a 21stcentury world that’s ready to start acting like we’re living in the future.
Anne Hollister