number seven uptown review

review taken from audiogalaxy

Ohio’s Swearing At Motorists are back in fine form with their latest long player, Number Seven Uptown. The Motorists are a tag team duo built of singer/ guitarist Dave Doughman and drummer Don Thrasher, who have produced a slew of 7"s and EPs over the past few years, though only two full lengths have made it into the hands of their devoted fans. Their style of simple pop songs, accented by a basic drum kit and easy-on-the-ears singing should make a lasting impression on fans of Secret Stars, Pinback, Pedro the Lion or more rockin’ bands like Silkworm and Guided By Voices.

Doughman is a thoughtful storyteller whose chief strength lies in clever lyricism, paired with ultra catchy melodies, both unburdened by overproduction or unnecessary instrumentation of any sort. His soulful voice is, at times, actually a bit twangy (for a Northerner), and is heavily reminiscent of gravel throated ex-Archers of Loaf vocalist Eric Bachmann, or similarly toned Canadian, Hayden Dresser, (who Swearing... covers on "Bullet").

Number Seven Uptown is a truly diverse record through and through, that works well when listening start to finish (which is rare these days), but also boasts quite a few quasi-"singles" (if only mainstream radio played good music). Subscribing to the Guided By Voices school of thought that "more is better", Number Seven Uptown is moderated by a handful of sparse song "ideas" that last sometimes less than a minute, but serve as perfect segues from one downtrodden epic to the next.

Though Swearing At Motorists could (and will) be considered bedroom rock bands in the vein of folks like Guided By Voices, Swearing… produces incredible songs (on par with any GBV album), with one large component notably absent: ego. And while GBV has acted like they were the biggest stars on Planet Indie Rock since the beginning of their lengthy career, Swearing At Motorists improves upon the forefathers of Ohio lo-fi rock by not coming off sounding like pompous assholes. Instead, they choose to stick to what they do best: writing great rock songs.

Doughman and Thrasher have blessed us all with an album of simple, but at times haunting, pop and rock songs that you’ll never tire of, and will never age. I just hope they can sustain an existence under the radar longer enough to put out five more full lengths like this.

-- Ben

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