Paul Schneider has such a perfect power-pop voice that I almost wonder if it was genetically engineered. It's very nasal, comes right from the top of the throat, and has just a little bit of grit-- it's like the Bomp!/Yellow Pills platonic ideal for singing voices. It would, however, be oversimplifying things to claim that Schneider's music is power-pop; I mean, it's pop, and it's got some punch, but he channels that voice into something decidedly modern where most power poppers check over their shoulders for cues from the 1960s and 70s.
Forever Debts is more of a full-band effort than Schneider's 2003 debut Escape Velocity, and it's also more straightforward. It's darker by a shade as well, though not quite as downcast as its cover might suggest. The high-contrast image of a black-and-white-suited Schneider, his matching guitar and photo of some intimate moment seems to explore the same kind of open-ended emotion his songs do. His lyrics don't so much tell stories as they dig around in the feelings that well up during a story's climax, when the straw breaks the camel's back and the relationship ends or the robbery is set in motion.
"Payments they are due/ On the fourth of the month/ We don't have it now/ But we will," goes the second verse of opener "The Crimes of Sivwitz", encapsulating the sting of financial insecurity that most of us deal with-- hopefully more constructively-- at some point in our lives. Schneider has some fun with wordplay at the other end of the album on "Imaginary Numbers": "1 is the square root of negative one/ That's the quantity I didn't want to become again/ I thought I could on two/ But it's divisible between me and you."
Schneider and his band, credited as the Close Talkers, hover in the middle tempos, but they keep things moving with shifts in the arrangements. "Crimes of Sivwitz" nicely transitions from a fluid intro to a tense buildup that spills into a crashing passage, and those dynamics aren't unusual on the record. "Occupation" pulls back for some screeching lead guitar from longtime Schneider mate Oscar Rodriguez, while "Aisle" has an irresistible beat. Distortion is used sparingly for emphasis, making the dynamic shifts that much more effective.
Forever Debts finds Schneider honing his craft as a singer and songwriter with enjoyable results, though it lacks a definite standout like Escape Velocity's title track. Among the things he's got going for him is an unwillingness to deal from the usual singer/songwriter deck of basic drumbeats and strumming patterns, instead preferring moody, electric arrangements. And then there's that voice, about as perfect a vehicle for his songs as you could ask for. If only every songwriter were so lucky.
