The Churchills

A new Churchills CD often means a review about beautiful melodies, catchy songs, hooky guitars,…you know, the stuff that sort of flows out when you have the “classic” power pop sound. Well, there’s quite a bit more here in The Odds Of Winning, The Churchills grandest musical statement yet. By-the-book power pop often runs the risk of becoming disposable. When there’s a glut of bands out there saying, “us, too” it gets a little hard to make some distinctions and you end up saying, “screw it, I’m just throwing on some Plimsouls” or something. Well, The Churchills have steered pretty clear of that danger throughout their career. In fact, when these pages were called Shake It Up in what seems like many moons ago, their debut Magnifique 400 and You Are Here both made out “tops of the year” lists and we even suffered through an episode of Spin City just to see their band-on-the-street appearance (at the end, no less!). Yeah, they get your attention. Now comes The Odds Of Winning. Apparently, these “odds” are pretty slim. The Churchills got “the blues”. Of course I don’t mean the 12-bar variety. Rather, The Odds Of Winning comes off as intensely personal and emotionally raw. From there, The Churchills lay a foundation that makes The Odds Of Winning work so well– the fact that melancholy doesn’t have to consist solely of an acoustic guitar and a tape recorder or be played at a snail’s pace. In fact, the full arrangements here add to the solemn themes here. We can hear screaming guitars, pounding drums, and studio effects all over this thing and it makes it all the more powerful that there’s a heartbroken loner amidst the aural chaos. The Churchills are a heavier band than most of their pop contemporaries (by far in most cases) and they come charging out of the gate with their “Not So Goodbye”, showing that newer members Scott Haskitt (guitars) and Jed Higgerson (drums) are a perfect fit for original members Ron Haney (guitars, keys, and vocals) and Bart Schoudel (bass, vocals). Right away, in sharp contrast, “Sometimes Your Best Isn’t Good Enough” challenges the band further in keeping a relentless momentum maintained from start to finish. As if to give us a chance to catch our breath, “I’m A Sucker For A Girl In Uniform” mines more retro territory but not without giving us a start with the line, “I try to turn away but I’m always so excited, sexy Joan Of Arc before she was ignited”. Maybe it’s my Catholic upbringing but hey, what balls! Calling The Churchills sensitive might be an understatement when you consider song titles like “It Only Hurts When I Breathe” but one thing they’re obviously sensitive to is the fact that their listeners might want more than just a “confession” and they can do that without diminishment. Again, their musical ability and, perhaps more importantly, their knowing their way around a studio keeps The Odds Of Winning relentless in its pace. “They’re Never Gonna Find Me”’s punk-like pace, the big rock (uh, you know, RAWK) sound of “Tailspin”, and the changes on the title track (which sounds like a few different songs crammed together) all reveal this agenda. What separates The Odds Of Winning from earlier Churchills releases is the thematic and musical unity throughout (which isn’t to say that it’ll make me forget Magnifique 400’s lower-fi charm necessarily – “apples and oranges” and all that). Whatever lies at the root of fuelling these odes to desperation will pass no doubt, but The Churchills seized on a moment in time here – and I, for one, am grateful that it’s preserved. - Bumpershot.com

After a couple years away and a couple lineup changes, the Churchills made a triumphant return in 2005 with The Odds of Winning, a solid, soaring disc on the rock end of the power pop spectrum. New members Jed Higgerson (guitars) and Scott Haskitt (drums and percussion) are folded seamlessly into the sounds of longtime band members and creative foci Bart Schoudel and Ron Haney. Schoudel and Haney are not quite the Lennon and McCartney of indie Pop Underground, but they complement each other nicely and have written a solid batch of songs. Opener "Not So Goodbye" might be a lame pun of a title but it's a solid rocker with a democratic arrangement where everyone shines. The lofty refrain of "Sometimes Your Best Isn't Good Enough" justifies its placement as lead single from the album, but it's second single "I'm a Sucker for a Girl in Uniform" that really steals the show: It's an undeniable modern-rocker that culls its monster riff and handclaps from the "Louie Louie"-loving garage-rockers of the '60s. Extra points for rhyming "police shield" with "Ashley Banfield." On the rest of the album, songwriters Schoudel and Haney frequently revisit the trope that relationships are contests, and the key is not winning every time but knowing when to let the other person win. Lyrically they waver on whether "control" is a good thing or not, which makes for some interesting dynamics for the close listener. The Churchills nicely acquit themselves on the production front as well, judiciously adding such touches as the percussive glints on "Do You Want Me to Go Away" and the glockenspiel on "Waiting for Someone to Save Us" while not overproducing. Only some dizzying speaker-panning on the bridge of "It Only Hurts When I Breathe" proves to be a bad production decision. The ballads on The Odds of Winning are not as thrilling as the rockers, but are still consistently intelligent and intense on this album, not a song or even a moment phoned in. Happy endings are too facile, the band concludes with this record; what's real are the experiences both sweet and sour, both win and loss, along the way. A nice thought, making for a solid record: Encouraging Odds, indeed. 4 out of 5 - All Music Guide