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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Seymore Saves The World: Renewable energy
Wednesday 11 April @ 15:01:10 |
  by NATHAN DEAN
The Energizer Bunny ain't got nothing on Scott Hefte, a man with such enviably indefatigable energy levels that he manages to split his time between three equally active indie pop bands on the Twin Cities scene (Skirt, Superdanger, Seymore Saves the World). Although one would think keeping such an active schedule might make a musician run the risk of burnout, Hefte claims the constant bustle has just the opposite effect on his passion for making music.
"To be honest, I actually wear other people out," says Hefte when I ask him whether he ever feels stretched too thin between his various creative endeavors. "I love playing music; I've played all my life and I don't feel like I'm burning myself out by playing whenever it's possible. The only hard part about being in so many bands is when different band mates worry that I'm playing favorites with my time. I try to be very even about dividing my time between all three bands because I feel like each one serves a different purpose in my musical life."
Seymore Saves the World, the retro-keyboard-driven trio which Hefte fronts, serves the purpose of scratching his toe-tapping smooth pop itch. A tasteful blend of angst-ridden lyricism, modestly groovy keyboard blips and dramatic, boyish vocal harmonies, Seymore Saves the World's self-titled debut is the kind of preciously geeky pop sure to appeal to fans of early Ben Folds Five. The similarities extend beyond a shared instrumental palette. Seymore Saves the World's cheeky vulnerability and penchant for chronicling suburban late adolescent malaise while dropping the occasional F-bomb (sample lyrical snippets: "I tend to dream in Technicolor when I'm stoned," "This little fucker on the football team kicked the shit out of you in the hall") can't help but conjure thoughts of Folds in his younger musical prankster days.
It was partly this sense of cheeky fun at the core of their musical mission that kept Seymore Saves the World from making a recorded debut sooner. Although active on the live concert circuit since 2004, the band began its existence about as far from career-oriented as possible.
"For a long time we didn't really want to record anything--especially something someone would have to buy," says Hefte of his band, which also features founding members Shawn Neary (bass/backing vocals, formerly of Tapes 'n' Tapes) and Michael McGregor (drums). "We had so much fun playing live and not taking it seriously. It was neat to pass out our CD-R EP of demos for free and build a little fan base that way. That period went on kind of indefinitely. Only in the last year or so did we decide that kind of wasn't enough. We were sort of losing direction and we had all these songs that we were excited about and people seemed to like. We realized it was finally time."
With that decision made, the group eventually linked up with local indie label Royalty Etc. records, a label previously associated with harder-edged indie rock groups Middlepicker and Space Camp, a far cry from the boyish, '70s-inspired soft-pop melancholia of Seymore Saves the World. The trio soon found themselves recording with local veteran rock producer Mike Wisti; not exactly a logical fit on paper, but one that proved fruitful.
 "The main reason we got hooked up with Wisti was because he's sort of Royalty's go-to guy," admits Hefte of the unlikely pairing. "I was excited because he records analog and I kind of wanted to get that '70s keyboard sound going on. The more we started working with Wisti, he realized he hadn't recorded our kind of music before, but he has very good taste as far as any kind of music goes and I think eventually he was really excited about working with a different type of group than the rock thing. It ended up being a good match."
Although largely using the studio as a conduit to capture the stage show they had honed over the previous years, there are occasional moments of larger sonic grandeur on the disc (a reverb effect here, an overdubbed trumpet accompaniment there). All in all though, the band opted to keep things streamlined.
"I didn't want it to sound very produced," says Hefte of Seymore's lean album sound. "I'm a big Ben Folds Five fan, and their first record sounded like what they could do live; I think that's a good starting point for anybody's first record. Even in our live show, Sean plays trombone once in a while and Michael plays an extra keyboard at points so the sounds you're hearing on the album we can largely replicate."
An almost relentlessly peppy outing from a melodic perspective-- consistently buoyant keyboard gurgles and loping active bass lines are the norm--Seymore Saves the World's melodic exuberance is tempered by a lyrical world centered around dashed hopes and long shot dreams. The best songs ("Track Star," "Team Player") conjure up stories of lost innocence and faded glory that anyone who occasionally mulls over the detritus of their adolescence while pondering when exactly adulthood is supposed to begin will immediately connect with.
"I would say my songs are pretty autobiographical," says Hefte, 28. "Life's confusing for everyone and my songs are a chance for me to share a bit of that confusion." ||
Seymore Saves the World plays the CD release show for their self-titled debut album on Sat., Apr. 13 at the Varsity Theater with Vicious Vicious, Cowboy Curtis and Coach Said Not To. 9 p.m. $10 (admission also gets you a copy of the disc). 18+. 1308 4th St. S.E., Mpls. 612-604-0222. For further information on Seymore Saves the World, check out their official website at seymoresavestheworld.com.
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