The Show: Wednesday, March 22, 2006

A D V E R T I S E M E N T A D V E R T I S E M E N T The Color of May By Anthony Mariani As with a lot of good young bands, pop merchants The Color of May keep getting better. Over the past year, their catchy songcraft has gotten tighter, and they’ve expanded their palette to encompass some decidedly non-pop hues, including digital wizardry, broad strokes of New Wave, and even a little Freedom Rock, dude. (Well, turn it up!) On Money Can Buy Anything, the Cleburne band’s new and surprisingly cynically titled five-song e.p., a darker, moodier side emerges. The four dudes have always been lovesick fools, and nothing’s changed here — “she” is still the primary source of both joy and pain. But the way the boys cope has deepened, primarily by the addition of new sonic toys. On “The Green Feel,” the way lead singer John Spivey’s plaintive voice weaves in and out of a simple, funkified backbeat is not only oddly and happily reminiscent of New Wave popsters The Tubes (!) but really un-Color of May-like. The slow-burning “If I Do Have a Soul, It’s for Sale” will get your lighters aloft, with its prog-rock-ish mix of crisply plucked acoustic guitars, electrified violin accents, and, during the chorus, some tambourine, man. Toward song’s end, the heavy seriousness is mocked by a simulated male choir, responding earnestly to Spivey’s smoky calls. The tiny church organ that shifts gears over the small, skipping Casio beat on the intro to “Waiting in Your Shadow” is pure floor-filling Cure. Spivey is almost as tortured as Robert Smith, but not nearly as whiny: “Well, he took your smile,” Spivey sings. “So here is mine / Take your time with this / I hardly ever use it.” Like the other tracks, “Waiting” rings in The Color of May’s signature sound, but the thoughtful, unexpected touches that fuel the song and large parts of the other tunes are a welcome progression. For the second week in a row, the Aardvark is the place for smart, guitar-based pop. Sat w/Stella Rose, High School Assembly, and The Motion at the Aardvark, 2905 W Berry St, FW. 817-926-7814. Email this Article...