Per website bio, the Athens, GA-based act Eureka California has been extant for roughly a decade. Unsurprisingly, changes have occurred along the way, most notably the lineup slimming down to a twosome as the sound’s gotten rawer and often faster. In a nutshell, it been a punkier experience, yet one that hasn’t sacrificed catchiness. Pop-punk? An ingredient, but not a limitation, and the scenario broadens on new album Roadrunners. Dishing 14 songs in 30 minutes, it extends their streak of quality, and it’s out on vinyl, compact disc, and digital May 4 through Happy Happy Birthday To Me.
Once something of a rarity, rock duos aren’t exactly as prevalent as springtime dandelions these days, but the pared-down approach no longer raises eyebrows. What’s striking about Eureka California is that having started out as Jake Ward’s “bedroom project” in Raleigh, NC in 2007, after a move to Athens the lineup once held five members.
Eureka California’s early recordings, including 2012’s full-length debut Big Cats Can Swim, documented a trio working approximately in lo-fi indie mode. It was a situation still tangible on ’14’s Crunch, as the sturdy pairing of Ward on guitar and vocals and Marie A. Uhler on drums (filling that role since the “Modern Times” 7-inch in 2011) made its debut and the pop-punk roots really began to show.
With ’16’s Versus, lo-fi exited the equation as the duo traveled to Leeds, UK to record at Suburban Home Studios (a facility run by Matthew Johnson of Hookworms). Additionally, the pop-inclined songwriting chops sharpened, but the execution, in a word highly caffeinated (thanks in large part to Uhler’s oft-blazing expressiveness at the kit), reinforced the merger of pop-punk (deepened by Ward’s emotive singing style) and ’90s indie rock (both stylistic components get nicely underlined by last year’s B-side cover of Superchunk’s “Slack Motherfucker”).
For Roadrunners Eureka returned to Suburban Home, and the results retain the clarity (sans slickness) of Versus. Given the maturing pop-bent of Ward’s songs and the increased dimension of the pair’s execution, the decision to revisit Leeds was a smart one. So was choosing “MKUltra” as an opening cut, as it immediately reestablishes their hooky-indie sensibility for the fans while simultaneously providing subtle evidence of the tandem’s growth.
On prior duo releases, the oft-breakneck playing and (occasionally borderline) over-the-top vocals sorta worked in counterpoint to the pop nature of the songs. Here, Ward’s voice still occasionally trots the bases in the ballpark of acquired taste as the delivery persists as energetic, but in “MKUltra,” the writing and instrumentation do feel a little more contoured, though it gets directly followed with a strong grumbly thumping shouter in “Perfect Grammar.”
Ward has played his guitar through two amps for a while now, the better to broaden the sound to the feel of a full-band. With Roadrunners, the tactic’s effectiveness has increased, as the dynamic richness in the melodic punk of “Threads” is a treat, in part because there’s a touch of the classique about it. This sweetly old-school ratio is even greater in the opening moments of “Time After Time After Time After Time,” though the eventual boost of guitar swings matters back toward an indie rock feel; all along the way Uhler’s trucking like a champ.
There’s no bold revamping of the Eureka California sound here. The songs are largely still short, but where duration once seemed tied to an often-appealing desire to sprint to the finish line, “Over It,” which clocks in at an even two minutes, registers as evenly paced and by extension, fully formed. However, “I Can’t Look in YR Direction” chalks up the typical pop single’s length of two threes and a zero, with the pair’s dynamic strengths again at the fore. After a few spins, Ward’s charged vocals are a tad reminiscent of Frank Black.
Across their prior albums Eureka has sparked numerous comparisons, but none of the similarities stuck for very long, and so it remains. “Howard Hughes at the Sands” finds them expanding the template with some clean acoustic strum, but without losing tabs on their increasingly recognizable sound; this means the cut gets raw and amped-up.
The intermittently humorous side of the duo also perseveres, as in naming a short instrumental “Buffalo Bills 1990-1993.” That cut and the following “JJT” finds them on the outskirts of an early ’80s surf-punky zone, but they leave it just a quickly for an atmosphere recollecting the song-loving side of the late ’80s u-ground rock in “SWDs,” a mode considerably enhanced by “Gila Monster,” which unfolds as the first of two consecutive “could’ve been” college radio hits (do you remember college radio?).
“Telephone Tone” is the other, the track also exuding a hint of the Alternative ‘90s, but with no bad aftertaste. “How Long Has This Been Going On?” thrives on a blend of catchiness and roar from the penultimate spot, and from there the soft-loud-soft interplay of “Mexican Coke” impressively manages to sidestep the hackneyed pitfalls of such a maneuver.
As reflected in its title, Roadrunners’ existence is inextricably tied to a love of playing its songs in clubs out on the road, but it’s also the second straight release to underscore Eureka California’s growing desire to make records that will linger in the memory long after that touring van gets parked for the final time. Hopefully, their audience will expand in the interim.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
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