Ball Park Music
Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs
(Stop Start/EMI)
Excitable, smug, bawdy and all over the shop: that’s the debut album by Brisbane six-piece Ball Park Music, who have long promised just that with a volley of singles and EPs. Emerging from the solo work of singer-guitarist Sam Cromack, the band turns his tales of drunken, lusty shenanigans into sweeping free-for-alls. Imagine the Pavement-meets-Pulp shtick of Wales’ Los Campesinos, spiked with the party-band vibe of Eagle & The Worm and the quirky guitar-pop of The John Steel Singers.
Like all of those overstuffed troupes, there’s a heap going on in Ball Park Music. But then, sensory overload seems to be as much a goal as musical abandon. “We’re not worried / We’re just havin’ fun,” repeats Cromack on the clownishly catchy opener ‘Literally Baby’, which is basically indie rock via Rocky Horror. Cromack’s nasal whine is as likely to divide listeners as his smarmy lyrics (one chorus includes the line “I only have sex with myself”) and the band’s anthemic clatter.
For me, though, only two songs cross the line into outright annoying. ‘Rich People are Stupid’ plays like a bad ’90s novelty hit, while the predictably chaotic finale ‘Happy Healthy Citizen of the Developed World’ retreats to more of the same clapping, sing-alongs and prototypical indie rock guitar freakouts that litter the rest of the album.
But mostly these songs are pretty fun, especially for fans of Pavement and their many disciples. ‘iFly’ approaches one of the more silly and immediate Stephen Malkmus singles: think ‘Jenny and the Ess Dog’ or ‘Tigers’. More obscure names like Guv’ner and Starlight Mints spring to mind too, while Cromack’s singing nears Thom Yorke territory on ‘Alligator’, which starts quiet but soon teems with accoutrements. Still, for all their undeniable cheek, Ball Park Music pull out some monster guitar solos between handclaps on ‘All I Want is You’ and prove adept at writing considerably more sincere songs with ‘Birds Down Basements’ and ‘Glass Jar’.
Yes, as much as sex factors in, so does love. “I fucking love you,” Cromack declares over and over on ‘iFly’. His band may be cartoonish and careening with bits we’ve heard before, but they’re also wildly tuneful and brimming with boyish heart.
Doug Wallen