Sinister: New EP review

[Dallams Organ]

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/review.asp?id=83154


Oh Honey, We’re Ridiculous
Pas/Cal
Le Grand Magistery 



by Nate Cavalieri
12/17/2003

 

Like every kid fueled by sugary cereals and social
dysfunction, I sometimes had a hard time sleeping.
Occasionally, I could talk my mom into staying up and
watching the night dramas with her. It wasn’t just
trysts of entangled lovers on “Dallas” and “Falcon
Crest” that confused my preadolescent mind; the adult
commercials were equally mysterious. The most
memorable of these was for shampoo. A beautiful,
floating head, larger than life at the center of the
screen, softly offered a honeyed plea: “Don’t hate me
because I’m beautiful.” And then — in a few seconds —
she faded out and was gone.

I didn’t have an inkling of such a concept at the time
— one that made a beautiful thing into an object of
hatred — but in the 20 years since, the idea has come
into focus. When I try to justify my utter hatred, my
curdling spite, my embittered repulsion at the music
of Pas/Cal, there might be no other reason except that
it is too beautiful.

The darling Detroit outfit’s latest, Oh Honey, We’re
Ridiculous, follows the blueprint of their tuneful
debut with a cache of brilliant hooks, bookish
observations and blissful sentimentality.

Oh Honey springs to action with hands clapping a
cheerleader’s cadence and vocalist Casimer Pascal’s
falsetto posing the questions: “What happened to the
sand? What happened to the men who would stay up so
late?” Unable to contain themselves, it takes the
sing-songers just over a minute to prance buoyantly
into pitch-perfect “la-di-das.” The squeaky-clean
playing and attentive arrangement are almost too
perfect. Imagine their shiny pink faces! Imagine them
jet-setting with designer attachés! Throwing back
highballs at the club with their legs crossed at the
knee and an ’80s cosmetics model on each arm! You
almost have to hate it.

>From the perky handclaps to the final fade, Pas/Cal’s
aural sunshine never finds a cloud. The subject of
“Poor Maude” may be a garishly dressed granny with
suicidal tendencies, but the band’s airtight pop seems
to frolic through the narrative giddily. When they do
wax misty for an Asian cutie with a “slurry curry
voice”(how Anglo is that?!) in “What do the American
Girls Have On Jennifer Jo Jo?,” the record is still on
the verge of exploding in a hail of happy pills.

By the time the EP joyfully spins round a handful of
times, Pas/Cal’s super-chic happiness proves itself
just as addictive as it is immaculate. It reinforces
the band’s place as one of Detroit’s most
stylistically refreshing up-and-comers. In the end,
maybe the only real reason to hate the 20-minute
offering is that — like the floating head — it’s a
beautiful thing that disappears too fast.

 

Pas/Cal will celebrate the release of this record on
Saturday, Dec. 20, at the Lager House (1254 Michigan
Ave., Detroit). Call 313-961-4668.



E-mail Nate Cavalieri at letters at metrotimes.com. 
contact PAS/CAL at www.pascalgoespop.com

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