You'll probably never read about a Wilmington, Del., "scene." No Philly-style "Next Borough" New York Times puff pieces, either. Why, I'll bet you didn't even realize that the home of many major credit-card issuers is the birthplace of Tom Verlaine and to-the-bone bad-ass George Thorogood. On aptly named Bar/None debut Nice and Nicely Done, local sextet the Spinto Band takes advantage of its hometown's invisible indie profile to sprawl all across the map of twitchy, 64-crayon guitar-pop.
To start, the Spinto Band's two lead singers traverse enough styles for a week's worth of positive Pitchfork notices. Nick Krill does the wobbly David Byrne warble about as well as deservedly lauded Clap Your Hands Say "It Boy" Alec Ounsworth. See harpsichord-splashed breakup song "Did I Tell You" and Turtles-quoting synth-pop come-on "Spy Vs. Spy". But Krill can also do dead-on Brighten the Corners-era Steve-O Malkmus ("Late", which brightly details the everyday dangers of rushing home for a favorite show: "It's slippery by the pool"). Meanwhile, fellow songwriter Thomas Hughes covers the sotto-voce sensitive-guy territory. His kazoo-enhanced "Brown Boxes" zooms in on a move-out/breakup: packing a pointless Hummel figurine while half-wishing for box-cutters sharp enough to "end it all". As throughout the album, a buoyant chorus saves the day.
Indeed, the group's college-age members rarely fail to build on their obvious indie influences with swooning California melodies and quirky instrumentation. Of particular note is Krill's "Oh Mandy", a ringing anthem of unrequited love, lush with mandolins and theremin. It namedrops the WB-- hey, "Dawson's Creek" was filmed in Wilmington...N.C.-- but is probably perfect for "The O.C." (that's meant as a compliment, guys). Another standout is "Trust Vs. Mistrust", which rides glockenspiel and a catchy "ah-ooh, ah-ooh" hook into another Pavement-esque verse about young, well-mannered lust. Four-on-the-floor "Crack the Whip" lashes the make-up alternapop zeitgeist, whippin' the Killers at their own neu-dance-wave game before ascending to a gates-of-heaven Beach Boys chorus like this was the Biblical, non-DFA Rapture.
Yeah, so the occasionally adolescent lyrics admit the Spinto Band's youth and the last couple of tracks trail off a bit, but the group's spirit of pop adventurism suggests it's worthy of early comparisons to gifted labelmate Architecture in Helsinki. Extra kudos are in order for goofy bonus track "Japan Is an Island": Amid Atari bleeping, Wilmington's finest will take you to a land where "Cornelius is a pop star," but they won't take American Express. Actually, they probably will.
