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Published at 2:44pm
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If you measure influence by either record sales or stylistic influence, the Feelies might as well have never existed. And yet the cultish North Jersey combo—which could switch on a dime from a strummed canter to herky-jerky “crazy rhythms” (the title of its 1980 debut)—endures, its music surprisingly untainted by the passing years.
Attesting to cofrontman Glenn Mercer’s skill, his first solo album feels both true to his old work and suspended in time. Paradoxically perhaps, this sense of fluid, organic continuity hangs on Mercer’s self-effacing vocals and weightless guitar lines. Except for a few accelerations, like the sinewy “Whatever Happened,” the pace remains casual, the subtle but decisive forward momentum provided by a remarkably unassuming rhythm section made up of former Feelies (bassist Brenda Sauter-Barnes and drummers Anton Fier, Stanley Demeski, Dave Weckerman and Vinny DeNunzio). Don’t be deceived by this modest approach, though: The songs are possessed of heartbreaking wistfulness, and on the superb “Two Rights,” Mercer’s elegance even extends to the coda—the track subtly builds up but still avoids the sense of cheap release you get from current “anthemic” bands. Like Wheels in Motion as a whole, it is a perfectly self-contained moment, impervious to musical fads and all the more bewitching for it. — Elisabeth Vincentelli
Glenn Mercer plays Maxwell’s Sat 23.
