Friday Mile

Taurus can avoid many mistakes if she decides to just stop and think before she bellows. She doesn't enjoy making a fuss, she actually regrets it. Such emotional outbursts and consequences thereof same are described in the songs of the Seattle band Friday Mile's debut album Using Up Our Trust. Jace Krause is from Montana, and there's a chilling expanse to the relational distances he sings about on this sublime ten-song folk-rock album, especially on heartbreakers like the excellently written "Harborview." Fans of Rocky Votolato will find much to like here; Krause isn't quite as tenaciously bitter or passionate, goes down a lot more easily, but is no less poignant. Small details fill each track with vivid scenarios of trust and hope spoiling and rising suspiciously. This is easily some of the best singer-songwriter material heard since the breakthrough work of Freedy Johnston. While I'm still waiting for a masterpiece to absolutely slay me, I have trust Krause will probably come up with one by the next disc.
- Three Imaginary Girls

I totally loved Friday Mile’s last effort, “Using Up Our Trust”. Regurgitating a sound that might seem at place wafting from the soiled speakers in a college dorm in Nowheresville, Kansas, Friday Mile might have rustic edges but deep inside is a character more at home with modern rock. CMJ might not have noticed yet but that should only be a mere matter of time because something this infectious is bound to spread like wildfire. Disarming harmonies with rangy vocals and sinewy guitars twang, swaying you to bop and weave with the danceable rhythms. Feel it, you know you will. - Smother.net

Friday Mile has a new recording coming out soon (Feb 20 to be exact) titled Love & Gasoline. If they were on top of things, they'd arrange a tour with The Doll Test, who named their 2006 ep Gasoline & Banks. :) But, I digress.

Jace was kind enough to send me a copy of the new release, which checks in with six new tracks. I've listened to it probably a half-dozen times since receiving it late last week, and I've got to say there isn't a clunker in the bunch. In fact, I can already see this being on a number of Top EPs of 2007 lists 10 months from now. It displays their mastery of melody while bringing to light a series of influences ranging from Americana sounds to 1970s AM radio pop.

Here's a song-by-song run down as I listen to the disc.

Track 1 - Distance Is Danger
This track is unique among the songs on the disc for a few reasons. First, it's the most uptempo of the bunch, and that's not particularly difficult since most of them are slower numbers. Second, it's also the only tune on the e.p. with a minor-chord progression that sounds vaguely "menacing" rather than aching or longing. This couples nicely with the lyrical content, in which the main character says "we should have it out right now" with "little miss laceration" who is "cutting up my words."

Track 2 - Curtain Call
Jace and Hannah trade lead vocals on this slow churning, heart-wrenching tune. This song features the "aching and longing" mentioned in the previous song in both the lyrical content and the melody. "I love you, but you've already made up your mind. So, sorry but I've wasted enough of your time." they sing in a sweet harmony. This song reminds me of the group Mysteries of Life, which features Freda from The Blake Babies and Jake from Antenna (although you can't hear the similarities on their myspace page). I never quite got why Friday Mile tends to say they have R&B influences, but I hear it in Hannah's voice here.

Track 3 - Islands Abound
Within 10 seconds of this song being on, I thought of REM. It was only after my second listen that I realized the opening phrase of the main melody of this tune is nearly identical to part of the "South Central Rain" melody. In fact, there are REM touchstones throughout this song, and that's not a bad thing. In fact, that's not to say that the song is even derivative. We'll just say that it "harkens" in that direction.

Track 4 - Battlescars
Track four opens with a waltz beat, and I initially thought it was going to sound like Elliot Smith, who used the waltz beat so effectively. But, that comparison washes away as soon as the song kicks in. This song emphasizes the rootsy side of Friday Mile and sounds familiar in the same way that all great pop songs do. It's like they grabbed a sheet of paper, made a list of all the important pieces of our collective musical memory, balled that piece of paper up and tossed it into our laps on the way out the door.

Track 5 - Three Years
This one finds Friday Mile in full ballad mode. Imagine the credits rolling on a romantic movie. The screen is black, the text is white, and this song is playing in the background. But, I don't mean that in a cheesy way. The song is earnest and heart-felt and all together pleasant to the ears. This song is the soundtrack to the best heart ache of your life, be it good or bad.

Track 6 - Westward Bound (The Whitest Blankets)
Another one that taps into their rootsy side. Brushes on the drums, long strums on the guitar, lyrics that reference Independence Day and vocals that have just a touch of twang in their delivery. A bit of haunting melancholy covers the song. So new, yet so familiar. There's an element of Southern Gothic to this tune, and as someone who grew up in the South, the whole thing feels like home to me.

As you can tell, I love the whole album. None of it would technically fall under the "powerpop" genre. But, powerpoppers understand and appreciate good songs, and that's what you've got with this release -- six solid tunes that should be required companions on cold weekends, lonely weeknights and perhaps should be issued each October to every person who moved to Seattle during the sunny summer months to prepare them for the dark gray that is to follow. - Seattle-Powerpop Blog

A foursome that can seriously do justice to a well-constructed artsy pop song. - The Weekly Volcano

The title of Friday Mile's latest EP, Love & Gasoline comes from a line from "Battlescars," a song from this six-song record. "With the right mix of love and gasoline, we could torch, we could torch this whole city." It sets the tone for the album. Each of the songs deals with intense passion or flameouts of being in love.

The first song, "Distance = Danger," is one of the best pop songs I've heard this year. It starts off sounding like a Rolling Stones hit, but once the vocals kick in, it becomes apparent that singer/guitarist Jace Krause has the softest voice for a male singer in the Northwest since the Posies almost 20 years ago. Singing about the inevitable fall of long-distance affair while maintaining an upbeat tempo, Friday Mile brings to mind some of the finest power-pop bands around — think Fountains of Wayne, Big Star, and the aforementioned Posies. When Krause sings "You need a little more conversation, Little Miss Laceration; you're cutting up my words" the bitterness only comes across in the lyrics, not the harmony.

The others songs work as well. The third track, "Islands Abound" centers on a bitter break-up and while the melody hides the sarcasm and ire, but the lyrics don't. It's a slow, melodic song with minimal instrumentation so that the only thing that stands out is the heartfelt lyrics. "Your green sweater roamed, but my camera caught you in my home; now I can see right through your smile," is one particular lyric that stands out.

Krause has written some great lyrics from the points of view of different perspectives and actors in relationships. The metaphors he draws are poignant and memorable. With his soft voice (that especially mixes well when he sings with Hannah Williams, who also plays keys on "Curtain Call") and smart, catchy lyrics, Friday Mile has the potential to be one of the breakout bands in Seattle. Like any EP, Love & Gasoline gives the listener the opportunity to discover what a band is capable of while creating a demand for an LP.
- Three Imaginary Girls