Through an audible tape hiss, we get Water Karaoke, this new album on friends by Jacober, a.k.a. Dave Jacober, who is a percussionist for the Dan Deacon Ensemble, the powerful-as-hell drummer for sci-fi hard rockers Dope Body, and knob twiddler in Holy Ghost Party, a project with Dope Body Buddy Zachary Utz. Obviously, this guy can turn a new leaf like no one's business, but for some reason, this kind of Nillson-inflected bedroom pop was not what I expected. Listening to this, and his other projects, you get the feeling that depending on where Dave sits in the morning in his sunny instrument room decides what kind of music he is going to make. If he sits at the drums, we get something aggressive. If he sits at the electronics pad, we get the technical, instrumental melodies of Holy Ghost party. But if he sits at the piano, he sings a pop song.
I don't want to say definitively that most of these songs were written on a piano, because I don't know, but it certainly seems like they were, especially the ballads, and the instrumental “Butter” which falls in the middle of the record. I think my favorite track is “Shy Side”, a tiny ringlet of tinkling pop dancing on top of a quick-moving Rhodes melody and the strength of Dave's voice, which is surprisingly lovely as it coos around and around. The whole cassette is available to check out, buy. and/or download on Friends' Bandcamp, and I've embedded the whole stream below for your listening pleasure.
