Philo
- The
Trouble With Girls
Jeff Cohen-Singer,
Guitars
Johnny Nickels-Bass, Squeezebox
Chris Russell-Drums, Hammond
Taking
their name from a little town southeast of Champaign-Urbana,
Illinois, Philo originally
formed in Chicago in 1995. Russell and Nickels are native
Chicagoans and have been friends since grade school. Cohen
migrated from Urbana-Champaign to attend school at the University
of Chicago. The current trio met after Philo’s original
lineup played a South By Southwest showcase in Austin. The
members swapped Chicago punk scene stories with seminal Chicago
alt-country band Church Key who were also relaxing at a shed-like
entertainment center outside Austin's city limits. Philo’s
Jeff Cohen recounts, "A few nights later back in Chicago,
Rusty (aka Chris Russell) and I swung by a little club called
Pops on Chicago, where Johnny was gigging with Billy Joe
Shaver. We decided right there to become superstars, and
the new Philo line-up was established."
Chicago’s New City once
tabbed Cohen the "Midwest's Elvis Costello," which
supports Philo’s reputation as an outfit focusing on
songwriting and lyrics. Though the band has country AND rock/punk
origins, this dichotomy of styles has allowed Philo to play
on diverse bills, including Flaco Jimenez, Freakwater, and
Billy Joe Shaver on the one hand, and Matthew Sweet, Buffalo
Tom, Afghan Whigs, and Jack Logan on the other. Its members
have also worked with Syd Straw, Mark Ribot, and Alejandro
Escovedo.
Featuring a guest vocal appearance
by Janet Bean (Eleventh Dream Day and Freakwater), The
Trouble With Girls was engineered and produced by Brendan
Burke, who also has engineered recent albums by Freakwater,
the Quadrajets, the Monomen, Ken Vandermark, Sally Timms,
and the Blacks. After the album’s completion, Philo
signed on with Cohen’s former Urbana-Champaign friend ‘n’ neighbor,
Parasol’s Geoff Merritt, to release The Trouble With
Girls. Look for selected Philo tour dates in the Midwest,
including their June 26 release show in Chicago.
With
tasty album opener "Last
Dart Leaving (Down)," the boys in Philo immediately
bring to mind Scottish duo Del Amitri, especially with singer
Jeff Cohen's vocal tie with Del's Justin Currie. If it stopped
there, great, but every song on Philo's full-length debut
goes a step further, proving they're more than just schooled
in noisy, romantic power pop.
The trio - guitarist Jeff Cohen,
bassist Johnny Nickels and drummer Chris Russell - indeed
is more than versed at meshing styles on this album, managing
never to sound forced.
"Dart's" follow-up is "One
Cheating Bride," a stark acoustic confession, sounding
like it was recorded in an empty apartment. Crashing that
party is "No Roses" which is soundly torched by
the urgent harmonies of Freakwater's Janet Bean and Cohen's
slashing guitar fuzz.
It's
Cohen's complex mix of sincere and self-deprecating lyrics
that would make him an apt opener
for Richard Thompson or Elvis Costello. Like them, he matches
pleasing pop melodies with slightly uncomfortable ideas.
As the combustible "Just How Evil" builds, Cohen
loosens the punch line: "She has no idea how evil I
can be." Now bop your head to that.
Later,
on the country ballad "Cruel
and Loud," Cohen's narrator draws you in even as he
admits, "I miss the smell of sticky and sweet perfume/of
a thousand teenage girls on the first day to school." But
the sympathy is held most for the woman in the mournful "Sound
the Alarm" who asks, "I made somebody's day/now
will someone make mine?" In Philo's tuneful world, the
trouble with girls is their men.
--Mark Guarino, The
Daily Herald, 6/19/99
Chicago
rock and country-rock groups, and that pedigree emerges in
the band's music. Shifting
easily between buzzing uptempo guitar-pop and spare, heartsore
country odes, Philo strings dark, often downcast lyrics over
generally solid six-string hooks. The group's penchant for
melancholia is especially evident on its forlorn, folky rewrite
of Sam Cooke's "Cupid." But though the subject
matter leans toward the morose, "The Trouble with Girls" is
a consistently energizing listen.
--Rick Reger, Chicago
Tribune Online, 6/24/99
Raves
for Philo’s
Cupid" 7" single released on Loose Booty
"This
Chicago trio is off to an impressive start with its debut
effort....Philo balances the themes of love and loss with
a passion and a vigor that is rarely found on the music
scene." -- Larry Flick, Billboard.
"These
guys must be rocket scientists. They seem to understand
space, as well as the fact that you don't need to fill
every square inch of it." --Chris Nickson, Alternative
Press. |
