THE KENNEDYS  "EVOLVER"
Album Profile
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 11, 2000

The Kennedys greet the new millennium with Rickenbackers blazing.  On EVOLVER, the purveyors of pop redecorate their patented chiming twelve strings and boy-girl harmonies with quirky loops and funky breakbeats that throw the whole thang out onto a  21st century dancefloor--and, as we've come to expect from these post-modern popsters, the sound is fresh!

Upbeat jangle is still their stock in trade, but it sounds like George Clinton has commandeered the Yellow Submarine--Pet Sounds and Pepperland references abound (check out the beachgirl harmonies on "Never Learn", or the tight three-part vocal on "Keep the Place Clean"), but the funky drummer is definitely in the house, especially on the relentless "Mr. Lucky Man".

Other standout cuts include "Good Morning Groovy" (an affectionate send-up of Japanese pop), "The Girl with the Blonde Eye" (Sergio Mendes meets Diana Rigg on a dayglo-painted Loveboat), and the rubber souled "If I Weep".

The first single, "Pick You Up", has an ABBA vibe that makes you realize you really are nostalgic for early 80's radio, and the album's closer, "Strangers", is a tribute to UFO spotting that the Kennedys recorded in a tiny motel room in Roswell, New Mexico.

In fact, a good deal of the album was recorded in motel rooms across the country--in Las Vegas, Austin, Nashville--and anywhere else they set up their mobile recording rig.  Sessions in LA and New Orleans yielded vocal harmonies from veteran popster (and now ELO member) Parthenon Huxley, and tight background vocals from Continental Drifters Vicki Peterson (Bangles) and Susan Cowsill (Cowsills).  Other guests include popmeisters Bill Lloyd and Jaime O'Connell, the latter of LA-based alterna-faves the Crosswalk.

EVOLVER suggest that the Kennedys are not only Beatle fans (they are), but that they've taken their music to a new place (they have).  The album is loaded with post Brian Wilson production sounds ("ear candy", in Kennedys lingo), but their bellbottom-clad rumps are shakin' to a funky, 808-driven groove.  Check out the Kennedys EVOLVER for a sample of what pop sounds like in the 21st century!