(2021) The Junior League - Bridge and Tunnel        


Review:
This is one absolute honey of a pop album, and if your collection is full of jangly guitars and haunting chorus hooks, it will hit you right where you live. From the start of the opening track, “The Sunshine Saves Everyone,” the elements may be familiar: There’s an arpeggiated Peter Buck-style lead guitar, some tastefully phased chorus harmonies and a mood that alternates between hope and melancholia. The reference points go back to vintage Big Star, but a gifted songwriter can make it all fresh again, and Covington resident Joe Adragna — who effectively is with occasional help — proves to be one. Some familiar names from your CD collection are here, but not in their usual roles: Young Fresh Fellows’ leader Scott McCaughey and Fastbacks’ leader Kurt Block did the mixing and mastering, and Steve Wynn’s drummer/partner Linda Pitmon did the cover (all three are also members of the Minus Five, apparently the band that blew Adragna’s mind at a House of Blues show a couple decades back; he’s since been in that band himself). The mixing help went to good use, giving the album a warm organic sound that’s not typical of one-man productions. Aside from layering his guitars, Adragna employs vintage Mellotron sounds (and real strings, played by Robyn Hitchcock collaborator Deni Bonet) to give a vintage feel, ending the finale “Woodlawn Avenue” with a “Day in the Life” sonic swirl. There are also a few hints of Bacharach on “Not My Time,” though Burt’s keyboards never sounded quite this otherworldly. Despite the local roots, many of these songs are steeped in the New York underground: The saddest one, “Andrea (You Can’t Fly),” is about the sad demise of a lesser-known Warhol actress. And “Library Bar” is about, yes, a library bar on Avenue A—as the song tells it, it seems a place where all the smart bohemians hang out. — offbeat.com





Track Listing:
1.The Sunshine Saves Everyone 03:17
2.Library Bar 03:47
3.54 03:21
4.Hart Island 02:39
5.Andrea (You Can't Fly) 02:27
6.LIRR 03:18
7.Not My Time 02:55
8.Storytelling 03:02
9.Turn Off The Lights 03:17
10.Somewhere In The Morning Light 03:14
11.Woodlawn Avenue 03:37


Media Report:
Genre: indie-pop, power-pop
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits