Written by: Dave Cantrell
In advance of (a slightly overdue) review of their new record highs & lows, Stereo Embers is happy, proud, and hell, just plain giddy to present the brand new single from the seemingly ageless LA-based band the black watch. We say ‘band’ but of course the black watch, at its core, is more precisely the agile, pop-literate (and, umm, literally literate) songwriting outlet for John Andrew Fredrick, who formed the first incarnation of the band a couple years after receiving his Ph.D in literature from UC Santa Barbara in 1985. In terms of musicality if not prolificacy Fredrick is something of a West Coast Robert Pollard (though more soaked in the rich brocade of English letters than a suitcase of lager), displaying a nimbly Beatlesque knack for the effortless pop hook that subsequently calls into play everyone from the Byrds to Big Star to the Weather Prophets, with perhaps a touch of, we dunno, a little Dunedin magic that’s somehow managed to float across the Pacific. All this and more is sparkling and accounted for in new single “jealously,” an easy-loping slice of melodic, subtly wondrous romanticism told in a second person voice that gives it a lyrical, Stegnerian distance. With Tyson Cornell’s 12-string laying down a perfect complement for Fredrick’s ringing Rickenbacker and a fat fuzzy bass (Chris Rackard) bringing a late afternoon warmth, it’s that perfect late-spring gem just waiting to help escort you off campus and into your summer. [though a 7″ is being considered, “jealously” is currently available digitally from the Eskimo Record Label via CD Baby here]
