Artist: Hop On Pop

Artist: Hop On Pop

Links: https://www.facebook.com/hoponpopchicago

http://hoponpop.bandcamp.com/album/chicken-on-a-bicycle

An album review's musical allusions are meant to supply the reader with all the tools he or she needs to make the decision: to listen? or not to listen? But with Hop on Pop's Chicken on a Bicycle, they just don't help.

For instance, although Todd Leiter-Weintraub's voice is akin to that of Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo), it also brings to mind J. Mascis's (his solo/live/acoustic albums, e.g. Martin & Me) on HoP's “Sheila of the Worms”; and HoP is memorably joined by Jonathon Newby (from the band, Brazil), whose falsetto (which recalls The Strokes' Julian Casablancas) is perfectly placed on “I'm Pathetic.”

Add instrumentation to the mix, and HoP touches the soul with achingly beautiful melodies, with “Come On, Let's Go” and “Hey” rivaling the best in movie music – The Pogues' “Fairytale of New York” (Basquiat) and Mark Lanagan's “The River Rise” (Hype), respectively.

And yet, even when you think you've got HoP all figured out, there are melodic mentions of experimental punkers The Mae Shi's “Lamb and the Lion” (in HoP's “Here”) and of rapper Kanye West's “Runaway” (in HoP's “Come On, Let's Go”).

Perhaps the most convincing proof that TL-W fully commands multiple genres, is that he knows when to relax control. On “Happy Days,” his wife simply shines on vocal lead, carrying TL-W's infectiously catchy tune like no other could. With this standout track, HoP captures the spirit of the oldies without being yoked by nostalgia or chained to convention.

Also noteworthy is “Say You Will (A Reluctant Soldier's Plea),” which merits discussion for exemplifying a phenomenon that has now frustrated/delighted me exactly twice. I'll call it the Sally Shapiro Phenomenon, after her “Dying in Africa,” the record on which I first heard it. So what exactly is the Sally Shapiro Phenomenon? It's waiting till the very end of a song to introduce (then lightly touch on) a transcendent musical idea – this, diametrically opposed to destroying beauty through repetition.

For me, I typically notice the phenomenon after the fact. I'll find myself yearning to re-visit a song part – a part I'm absolutely certain is a hook – only to find out it was actually an ending. Taking into account his song-writing chops, I'd be willing to bet that TL-W knew exactly he was doing. After all, the soldier is “reluctant” to reveal his gorgeously rendered plea, “Say you will.”

HoP is a singularly gifted song-writer, who I'd trust to write full-length albums in each of the genres previewed on Chicken on a Bicycle. But since that would mean me having patience, I'll just plant this idea in TL-W's head right now: An EP. To tide us over till Chicken on a Bicycle, Volume II. (Call it: Chicken on a Unicycle.)

I'm not alone in wanting more. On the live track, "Sheila of the Worms," the thing you notice (after the excellent guitar solo), is the love. And it's going both ways.

*** The author of this review, Jeffrey King, plays the bass drum for the following band: http://youtu.be/tMS73-1kCr8