Heartfelt and pure guitar pop doesn’t come much better than Bitter Fruit, the first album in way too long by former Windbreaker Bobby Sutliff. His first release since the Windbreakers’ swan song Electric Landlady in 1991, it’s actually the second solo Sutliff effort; 1987’s Only Ghosts Remain may have vanished without a trace in those tumultuous pre-Nirvana indie-rock days, but a few folks in the pop underground recognized it as an influential and unjustly ignored masterwork.
Bitter Fruit was produced (mostly) by Mitch Easter, and as such, is a mini-reunion of ’80s Southern-pop greats, reclaiming musical territory long abandoned — beautiful twelve-string guitar pieces; floating, cascading melodic twists; moody, introspective songs; and songwriting rooted in the heart of the Beatles/Byrds/Big Star triumvirate of pop icons.
The lead track, “Warning Bells”, sets the pace, hooking into your head with immediacy, Easter’s jagged lead guitar coda lifting the track into another stratosphere. By track two, “One Way Ticket”, a creamy, chiming instant classic, those for whom power pop is a mantra will be on cloud nine. Records like this remind me what a shame it is that pop music is not popular anymore.