What is it with cult bands changing their names after four albums, as if the shortening were some sort of commercial necessity, the only thing standing between a great-but-obscure artist and exploding success?

Whatever led Eric Elbogen to drop “to Your Mom” from his moniker, it was unnecessary. That’s the thing about cult fan bases. If they love you, they probably love your pretentious, semi-cute, five-word name as well. On the bright side, all that’s happening is a loss of a few words, rather than some sort of grandstanding, respawn-as-a-special-character Prince chicanery.

Say Hi may be taking a step forward as a musical figure, but he’s taking a step backward as a musician—back to the simple, irresistible pop of the album that put him on my map, 2004’s Numbers and Mumbles. I missed the last two beyond a cursory listen, but word on the street is they’re not all that fabulous, generally presenting “quirkiness for originality and sincerity for significance.”

Even Mumbles was all over the pitch map, and impeccably blahful to a first-time listener. But buried in the lo-fi, faux-homemade-ness is a perfect ear for melody and an ability to write inexplicably addictive songs like the fabulous “A Hit In Sweden,” which played on my iPod no less than 76 times a day last summer.

The beginning of this record is sunk by the same old tricks that got Say Hi criticism on the last two—a boneheaded adherence to rigid formula, however quirky the embellishments might be. Elbogen loves to pick a single string of his bass or electric and then have it dance around lock-step with his drums for a few bars—usually through the first verse or longer. “Northwestern Girls” has the string-tuning warmup feel, but is too much of a non-starter to be an actual song. And dear “Shakes Her Shoulders,” I like your percussion, but you’re a pop song, and as such, you might try sounding like … a song.

Slice away that opening fat and you find the perfect launching point and a much-needed break from bass-driven formula. “Back Before We Were Brittle” begins with triumphant, wobbling reverb and chord progression banged out on the piano. The schizophrenic drums and bass are still there, but now they’re decorated with enough melody to be fun listening.

Elbogen softens his voice and (mostly) stays on pitch for the duration of “Oboes Bleat and Triangles Tink,” a cutesy explanation of why “we can’t stop this thing from what it’s gonna be.” The weird, juvenile lyrics to “Spiders” could easily be read as studied and pretentious, but this is where Say Hi’s charm intervenes—it’s obvious that he means every word of it even though he knows it’s a bit silly, and is having a goshdarn good time singing it. The swaying, sing-songy melody is one of his better ones, and proof that sincerity may not equal significance, but it sure goes a long way.

Say Hi is definitely not going anywhere beyond his current cult status—to do so would be to virtually sell out the whole concept. It’s cute, sometimes-melodic pop music for those who generally find cheeky pretention endearing, and like eating the sugar even if there isn’t any medicine to go down.

	Topic: Books & Music, Reviews		Email a friend
	Keywords: Eric Elbogen, pop, Say Hi		RSS 2.0
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