The Jealous Sound - A Gentle Reminder

It's been a bit since we've heard from The Jealous Sound. The Got Friends EP dropped over three years ago and was rumored to be the last we would hear from the band, but the return of head JS-er Blair Shehan from his own emotional wilderness a couple years ago found long-time pal Nate Mendel stepping into the breach to lend the rebooted Jealous Sound his bass skills. In an even more fortuitous turn of events, Mendel afforded them access to the Foo Fighters recording complex for the better part of last year. The result is A Gentle Reminder, a release that continues the late-period amalgamation of last century's pop-driven guitar punk with a soupcon of today's electronic stylings. I can't say I see the appeal of most of the electronic stuff, but it doesn't really ruin the proceedings. It's a big sounding record, definitely what I'd call radio-friendly. I'd say Change You and Promise Of The West are the two best tracks on A Gentle Reminder, but nothing here is even close to being bad. The tour rolls through Brooklyn mid-month. Catch them at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn if you are of a mind and pick up A Gentle Reminder here.

R

Live: The Jealous Sound @ Southpaw 9.29.9

While I was more than a little bit lukewarm about the ringing of the cash registers that heralded the return of Sunny Day Real Estate, I was more than stoked to find that The Jealous Sound had been tapped as the openers for the Diary dates. I was even more stoked to find that the band had booked a Brooklyn club date at Southpaw on one of their off-nights. I wasn't all that stoked to ride out to Park Slope, but the successful navigation to and from The Bell House a couple of nights before made it seem like a worth the ride.

It's a nice 20 minutes on the bike out to Southpaw. I was pleased to arrive just as the band were about to play (for once). The set list is below, featuring the high points of their previous EP and full-length as well as a new song.

The crowd was pretty amped to finally have the boys back East and prompted the boys to kick things up a notch or two. The band was openly surprised at the large turnout, to the point where they were unable to muster up an encore, the new rhythm section only knowing the tracks you see. Blair played a song by himself to close the evening and I was home before midnight, making this one of the best shows I've seen in a while. Kudos to Southpaw for keeping an accurate schedule and huge props to The Jealous Sound for killing it for the short time they did play. There is allegedly a new record coming soon, but while we're waiting, pop over to The Jealous Sound web presence to keep up on the up to the minute skinny.

R