Pernice Brothers: Overcome By Happiness

With countless neo-country knock-offs club-hopping across the U.S., singer/songwriter Joe Pernice must have realized it was time to move on from his work in Scud Mountain Boys. His new outfit, Pernice Brothers, doesn't altogether abandon the twang of his former band, but it does head in a new and welcome direction. Enlisting his brother Bob and some talented friends (including Thom Monahan, Aaron Sperske, and Mike Deming from Lilys, as well as a wonderfully arranged nine-piece orchestra), Joe Pernice's breathtaking songs thumb their collective nose at the phony front of alt-rock, alt-country, and any other modern sub-genre devoid of honest emotion. With their dry drums and perfect piano details, "Clear Spot" and the title track recall some of the best left-of-center pop from the '70s, including late-period Big Star and even Fleetwood Mac's weird masterpiece Tusk. The swelling strings of "All I Know" and "Monkey Suit" are virtually irresistible, and the latter is an especially Alex Chilton-esque pop confection. Pernice's splendid songwriting makes it easy to assert that Overcome By Happiness is the first essential album of 1998, which unfortunately tends to mean that come 1999, it will also be forgotten. That would be a shame, as Overcome By Happiness is so well thought-out and so unerringly beautiful that time seems to stop while it plays.