Pernice Brothers – Discover A Lovelier You

Despite what you may read, Joe Pernice is no Brian Wilson. He’s no John Lennon, either, nor a Paul McCartney, nor a Nick Drake. But he is an inordinately gifted songwriter, one blessed with an gorgeous set of pipes. He’s additionally possessed of an uncommon intuition when he steps into the studio; if a tune calls for a Pet Sounds or Smile-like symphonic flourish, or a Beatlesque passage, or a Drakeian soliloquy, he’s not shy.

This is never so evident as on the fourth Pernice Brothers studio album, Discover A Lovelier You, in which Pernice, now fully divested of the roots/country-rock that marked his earlier outfit the Scud Mountain Boys, serves up one of the year’s purest and most satisfying pop platters. The record is aglow with melody and rich with texture throughout its 40-minute duration, commencing with the throbbing, New Order-ish surf-twang pop of “There Goes The Sun” and continuing on through such luminous gems as the title track (a sunny, strummy instrumental that could pass for the theme to a ’60s coming-of-age summer flick) and the unabashedly Fab Four-ish “Subject Drop”, which boasts jangly George Harrison guitar licks and a duet between Pernice and Blake Hazard.

Pernice’s songs contain subtle cinematic or traditional literary qualities — the twinkly electropop of “Sell Your Hair”, for example, clearly nods to O. Henry, and it’s probably the only tune ever to use “hyperbole” and “insecurity” as a rhyming scheme — with Pernice matching sonics to words like a true auteur. Perhaps that exclusive fraternity beckons after all.