2008 Woodie Awards
The Sunshine Fix really like The Beatles
Derek Cunningham
Issue date: 9/10/04 Section: Entertainment
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Some bands wear their influences on their sleeves. The Sunshine Fix, a psychedelic band from Athens, Georgia, seem to have blown an entire month's paycheck at the All-You-Can-Wear Brit Pop Clothing Boutique. They are the Super Furry Animals without the politics, The Beatles without the rock. That is not to say their new album, "Green Imagination," is bad. Actually, it's quite enjoyable. The music is bright, cheery and melodic. They stay focused on creating pop songs, and they never stray too far into experimental ambience. They do use a lot of psychedelic sounds - bubbling vocals, swirling keyboards, backward guitars - but those sounds just provide a good layer of texture. At the worst, it can be cheesy, but it is never excessive.
The lyrics are nothing special. They can be silly at times, like on the song "Interstate": "Interstates/And all those roads/Leading to some place/We want to go/Like Innerspace/And all those places we go/Today/The logical way where we/Can see the answers lying within." Other times they are absurd, pseudo-poetic lines like, "Papers fall where text exists/Uh-huh/Taking names from Sunday's lists/Uh-huh," from the song "Papers Fall." Yet Bill Doss, the lead singer, has a good voice and a great ear for melody. There have been worse lyrics to better songs.
Their best use of psychedelica is on the song "Extraordinary/Ordinary." This song is a superbly orchestrated two-and-a-half minutes. The music floats from rock riffs, to layered sound beds, to an acoustic guitar/trumpet duet with ease. It is played against a backdrop of goofy hooting and bouncy drums. The song is coherent, catchy and fun to listen to.
Most of the other songs are more mellow and dreamy. It is here their influences shine a little too brightly. The songs aren't bad, but they are incredibly similar. They all have approximately the same tempo and float-on-the-clouds feeling. A Beatlesque organ riff (think "Fool on the Hill," not "Hey Jude") appears on almost every track. You feel like you've heard these songs before somewhere.
The lyrics are nothing special. They can be silly at times, like on the song "Interstate": "Interstates/And all those roads/Leading to some place/We want to go/Like Innerspace/And all those places we go/Today/The logical way where we/Can see the answers lying within." Other times they are absurd, pseudo-poetic lines like, "Papers fall where text exists/Uh-huh/Taking names from Sunday's lists/Uh-huh," from the song "Papers Fall." Yet Bill Doss, the lead singer, has a good voice and a great ear for melody. There have been worse lyrics to better songs.
Their best use of psychedelica is on the song "Extraordinary/Ordinary." This song is a superbly orchestrated two-and-a-half minutes. The music floats from rock riffs, to layered sound beds, to an acoustic guitar/trumpet duet with ease. It is played against a backdrop of goofy hooting and bouncy drums. The song is coherent, catchy and fun to listen to.
Most of the other songs are more mellow and dreamy. It is here their influences shine a little too brightly. The songs aren't bad, but they are incredibly similar. They all have approximately the same tempo and float-on-the-clouds feeling. A Beatlesque organ riff (think "Fool on the Hill," not "Hey Jude") appears on almost every track. You feel like you've heard these songs before somewhere.
