More Words On: Pants Yell! – “Received Pronunciation” (2009)

Like the evenly cooked oatmeal in “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” so many things about Pants Yell!’s Received Pronunciation are just right. The guitars jangle along the edge of fuzz but not to the point of stylization; the vocals are sincere and dorky but not without confidence (at one point, singer Andrew Churchman sings, “Your boyfriend’s an asshole,” and on “Not Wrong,” drops the line “You had the gall to tell me I’m wrong / but I’m not wrong”); and the performances are joyfully loose even as the songcraft is sewn tight with care. Despite their links to twee labels Asaurus and now Slumberland Records, four albums in, Pants Yell! have risen above their indie-pop roots to the broader camp of indie-as-pop – the big tent of Pavement and Beulah. I will now listen to this album for the fourth time in a row.

Pants Yell! – “Cold Hands”: mp3

(Received Pronunciation is out now on Slumberland; the band plays in L.A. in March as part of the epic Slumberland 20th anniversary celebration)

Previously: First Look: Pants Yell! – Received Pronunciation