Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Springfield might be a little far away to qualify as local, but SSLYBY's (whew) record is good enough to make us want to claim Ashcroftville as part of the 'hood. Piano-driven pop that pulls heavily from Wilco, Weezer and even the Elephant 6 collective, Broom might just be the best album I have heard in 2005 from anyone. From the opener, "Pangea," with its sweet ba-ba-da melodies, to "Gwyneth," the gorgeous closer, Broom is an insanely good debut.

They just don't make albums this good in Springfield. So it's a fair guess that these folks won't be sticking around much longer. The band will be recording in fragrant New York soon, so it's important that we assert ownership of these guys while we can.
- Riverfront Times

Springfield’sSomeone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's"Broom" is as catchy as they come and easily one of the best of 2005 so far, both within and well beyond the borders of Missouri.

Expect more in this space about SSLYBY as it heads to New York to record with The Mommyheads’ Adam Cohen, who led that NYC/San Francisco project to four independent releases in the late ’80s and early, mid-’90s before its self-titled major-label nod appeared in 1997 on Geffen.

- The Columbia Tribube (Missouri)

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is currently lacking in the fame department -- their pinnacle seems to be their ranking of #54 on the CMJ top 200 (not a small feat, by any means, particularly for their first full-length, and definitely well-deserved, but they are far from having millions of screaming young girls watching their every move (which is not necessarily a bad thing, I would imagine)) -- but they are certainly not lacking in musical talent. It's not as if they're Malmsteen-esque shredders, rather, they are talented song writers. Their harmonizations on "I Am Warm And Powerful" and the gentle piano-and-acoustic-guitarr "Gwyneth" both point to such a statement as being true, examples of the powerful music this young band is creating.

Broom evokes feelings of happiness and a simplistic lifestyle while remaining almost detached sounding (not accidentally, it would seem -- this is a carefully planned detachedness, or at least as carefully planned as detachedness can be). The production quality is astounding -- not only is this free of clicks, pops, scratches, and all the other annoyances that have plagued independent recording for years (though that issue has been disappearing lately, Broom does sound very good, relative to other similar musicians), but listening to Broom seems to give an unmistakeably warming sensation. Broom is easily one of the top albums of the first half of 2005. - musicgeek.org

Dear Unknown Band From Middle-of-Nowhere Missouri,

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Firstly, your name, which tickles me in ways I don't fully understand. Secondly, your singer's voice, like a friendly, joy-buzzed handshake from the Mendoza Line alternated with the emotional embrace of a Bright Eyes or Elliott Smith. Thirdly, your occasionally geeky sense of humor, evident in your sentence-length moniker and songs like "Pangea," in which you winkingly excavate the similarities between two drifting lovers and the fractured demise of Earth's original monocontinent. Fourthly, and most importantly, the fact that your debut is one of those rare albums where every song is crafted, delicious, and essential. This is disgusting, really, given the fact that the oldest member of your band is only 22.

Yours truly,

Chris Baty
- San Francisco Weekly