 by Keith Pille
So, here we are halfway through 2005, and the world has no shortage of problems. We should be worried, depending on who you ask, about environmental degradation, or military adventurism, or a housing bubble, or steroids in baseball, or the United Nations’ bid to overthrow the United States and install some sort of godless One World Government wherein we all have to wear gray and drive tractors around.
What can the average person do in the face of all of this fear? We can chill out, that’s what. And that’s how the Minneapolis keyboard-pop band Seymore Saves the World manage to live up to their name; light and pleasant and fun, their self-titled debut EP is perfect for sitting back and getting lost in the easy melodies and excellently weird keyboard noises, and, in the process, forgetting your (and the world’s) troubles for 20 minutes.
Download an mp3 of Seymore Saves the World’s song “Red Wing.”
 The
trio of Scott Hefte (keyboards, vocals), Shawn Neary (bass, vocals), and Michael
McGregor (drums) are very up-front about just wanting to make music that’s
easy to listen to. “I like writing songs that sound like fun and really
poppy,” admits Hefte. “I try to go back and write lyrics that mean
something to me, but my first key is just writing a good melody and a fun piano
part that I think people will find attractive. It’s really pop-oriented,
and I think it’s meant to be that way. We have some interesting things
to do, but I don’t think it’s meant to be really heavy.”
“I know that when I write, I tend not to tell anything about my life,”
adds Neary. “It’s more just a story, so I’m more focused on
lyrics, and just hope a good melody comes out of it.”
The band is well-served by this focus on sound and melody. The five songs on
Seymore Saves the World’s EP bounce along merrily, free of the anguished
groans and hey-look-at-me-and-how-intense-I-am guitar interludes common to more
emotionally-based rock. Hefte’s voice and the lush sounds of his old-timey
analog Wurlitzer keyboard dominate, with McGregor’s and Neary’s
rhythm work playing deftly off of each other and the melody. It’s keyboard
pop, but it’s the full-bodied analog keyboard pop of the 1970s tradition
(think ELO, although, sadly, none of the Seymores have a Jeff Lynne afro), rather
than the more pinched, narrow ’80s flavor. The overall effect is sort
of like a huge, brightly-colored beach ball bouncing along, secretly controlled
by some complicated clockwork mechanism inside.
Seymore Saves the World are also refreshingly chilled out about their musical
careers.  While many bands bite their lips and plan out a career arc involving
X number of local shows followed by a tour on which they’ll have to sell
Y number of T-shirts, all the while sending Z number of demos out to labels,
the Seymores just want to play. The
band hands out the new EP for free at shows. “Our main focus is on having
a good time playing,” Neary says. “Scott and I are in other bands.
Michael has a job that takes up a lot of time. So this is just about having
fun. We basically like playing around town, a few times a month.”
“I think that’s the best reward,” claims McGregor, “just
having people come out to shows and have fun.”
High-quality keyboard pop doesn’t just write itself, of course. Seymore
Saves the World has to work to put their songs together. But, as with everything
else with this band, the creative process is pretty laid back. Neary sums up
the band’s songwriting technique thusly: “Scott brings the hot rock
and Michael and I try to do something with it.”
While Hefte is willing to go into a bit more detail, his version doesn’t
really sound very arduous, either. “We bring in a piano part with a melody
or something like that,” he says, “and then we’ll flesh it
out. We help each other write bridges and such. Once you bring in the skeleton,
it kind of turns into a collective effort. It’s great working with these
guys, because they always have such cool, original parts that make it so much
better than it originally was.”
 “We
do a lot of asking each other for suggestions, though,” McGregor interjects.
“We’ll get done playing something and ask, ‘So did you like
that, or didn’t you? If you do, cool; if you don’t, why not?’”
Hefte comes back: “The real challenge is having the confidence to say,
‘Hey, could you change that part a little bit?’ That’s how
passive we are. ‘That’s really good, but can you change it?’
That’s where we’re at ... We’re very self-deprecating.”
Other bands hurl empty whiskey bottles at each other during creative-difference
arguments; Seymore Saves the World have to make an effort to suggest different
parts to each other. That’s just how chilled-out these guys are. And if
anything’s going to save us from a a gray-wearing, tractor-driving, UN-dominated
future, it’s that pleasant, agreeable spirit. ||
Seymore Saves the World perform on Thu. June 23 at the Acadia Cafe with
Hello Blue, Something With Kites, the Hollicks. 8 p.m. All Ages. $5. 1931 Nicollet
Ave. S., Mpls. 612-874-8702.
Find out more about Seymore Saves the World on their
official website at SeymoreSavesTheWorld.com.
Head on over to our mp3 page to download hundreds of songs, including Seymore Saves the World’s “Red Wing.”
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