A half century ago, the art rock scene arose and flourished with musically sophisticated, sometimes vaguely classically-influenced arrangements often with showy musicianship, all in a rock-band setting. No doubt, many of those bands were inspired by the elaborate and often innovative arrangements of the Beatles’ latter work. One thing that the Beatles did was to keep their music tuneful and melodic. Over the years since then, there have been a number of what could be called art-pop bands, one of the most notable was the British group XTC. With the rise of the alternative rock scene, that sort of thing became less common. One American band who has been doing art pop for close to 40 years, on and off, is the Mommyheads, whose albums we have featured in this review series. This week we have another high quality American band who bring sophisticated musical arrangements while remaining generally melodic, and add some great lyric writing. The group is Push Puppets, and their new release, their fourth is called Tethered Together.

Push Puppets, from the Chicago area, is one of those groups very much dominated by a singer-songwriter and front man, Erich Specht. Indeed the group started as a solo project, with the first two albums being basically Specht playing most of the instruments together with a drummer. On the new album, it’s a quintet with Kyle Magnusson on keyboards, John William Lauler on bass and Greg Essig on drums, plus Steve Frisbie on backing vocals. To add to the art rock qualities of the album, a string quartet is heard on many of the tracks, with Specht doing the arrangements for those as well. Specht says he studied violin while in school.

The album is impressive lyrically, with a few love songs, including about breakups, plus considerations of the state of the world. Except for the instances with the string quartet, the sound is a pretty much straight ahead electric band from upbeat rockers to more laid-back folk-influenced tracks. The ten songs are generally succinct, with only one exceeding five minutes in length, and they generally avoid getting into any art-rock-style instrumental solos.

The album commences with a song called Similar which makes a commentary on how alike people are in a deeply divided world. It’s one of the more musically energetic tracks. <<>>

Showing a little Beatles influence in the some of the sonic ingredients, is the composition Hearts Aren’t Souvenirs. It’s a kind of roundabout breakup song. <<>>

One of the most melodic tunes on the album called Probably another song about a breakup, in this case apparently still being in love with one’s ex. <<>>

Taking a wider worldview is a the track called All Together on 3, about the need to work with your fellow human beings to deal with all the bad things that come. <<>>

Yet another variation on the breakup song comes on This Whole Endeavor which puts the situation in a bright pop setting. I think it’s one of the highlights of this strong album. <<>>

According to Erich Specht, the song Tell Colleen to Calm Down is not based on anyone in particular, but on Specht imagining a music fan getting carried away at a concert, with a little too much enthusiasm. <<>>

Another of the album’s highlights is Hearts Are Fragile considering the potentially fragile nature of a relationship, which could come apart without due care. <<>>

The album ends with an appropriately-named composition called The Logical Conclusion which serves a good finale with its philosophical lyrics. <<>>

Art-pop, the musically sophisticated variety of rock that also is appealing and tuneful, is something that goes back to the Beatles, and which led to the art rock movement of the 1970s as well as the psychedelic scene. It has been a somewhat quiet presence in the music world in the decades since. Recent examples include Sufjan Stevens, Vampire Weekend, and the Mommyheads. Erich Specht and his band Push Puppets continue in that vein on their new fourth album Tethered Together. It features polished musical compositions with intelligent but relatable lyrics. It’s a winning combination, making for great, generally upbeat listening.

Our grade for audio quality is an A-minus for a mix that keeps things in perspective and keeps the sound honest.

One interesting, one might say throwback, to this new album is that the physical CD contains a nice twelve-page booklet with the lyrics printed out with creative graphics. It makes the Push Puppets Tethered Together all the more worthwhile.

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<<>> indicates audio excerpt played in produced radio review

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