We get a lot of records sent to us here at The A.V. Club. Fortunately, we end up liking some of them. In Playlisted, we share our latest recommendations.
Album: Do Things by Dent May (out now on Paw Tracks)
Press play if you like: The Beach Boys Love You; the guitar sound on America’s “Sister Golden Hair”; well-crafted indie-pop whose catchiness overcomes its more annoying trappings
Some background: Those with even the slightest aversion to indie-quirk might have to fight off a strong urge to punch Oxford, Mississippi-based Dent May slightly to the left of where he carries his iPhone. In 2009, May released his debut, The Good Feeling Music Of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, the title of which only sounds like it was made up on the spot to parody suffocatingly precious indie culture. For Do Things, May has remade his music with what could broadly be termed as a chillwave sheen, which will only inflame the haters more. But all that aside, Do Things is an incredibly appealing summertime album, spotlighting May’s casual grasp of lightly funky, totally mellow, and still stealthily effective late-’70s soft-rock tropes. While the cheap synths and fabulously wanky guitar solos are fun, Do Things gets over on the songwriting, with May shrugging away grown-up stuff like parents, paying rent, and moving away from home with sunny melodies and lounge-y vocals seemingly by the guy who sang Looking Glass’ “Brandy (You're A Fine Girl).”
Try this: Find the nearest swimming pool and listen to “Tell Her,” the catchiest song on Do Things, and there’s at least a 65 percent chance there will be a strawberry-banana daiquiri in your hand by the end.