Thursday , March 28 2024
Wall of Sound pop magic...

VCV: Guster – “Do You Love Me?”

My joy will be complete in 63 days when Guster’s new album Easy Wonderful is released.  I will have already seen the band on the Easy Wonderful tour two days prior in Nashville.  Yes, I’m counting the days and yes, you should be too.

I already shared my thoughts on “Bad Bad World,” which the band allowed fans to download free from their web site.  They released “Do You Love Me?,” the first single from the album, through iTunes, Amazon, and other digital music retailers.  So what’s the verdict on “Do You Love Me?”

Multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia says the band’s upcoming record, due October 5, is “the classic Guster pop record.”  Having now heard two songs my ownself I am prepared to say Pisapia is 100 percent correct about the album he and bandmates Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner, and Brian Rosenworcel have made.

I’m really glad I’m seeing Guster early in the tour and not late because this is another song that pushes Miller high into his falsetto and this song might literally kill him if he tries singing it with a sore throat.  The great Guster harmonies aren’t present on this one, which is disappointing, but instead of going the harmony route the instrumental ear candy comes instrumentally and melodically.  

The song opens simply with Miller’s vocal and acoustic guitar, handclaps keeping time.  Additional instruments emerge subtly, building for the big chorus.  Imagine Phil Specter remixing or producing “Do You Believe In Magic?” by The Loving Spoonful (oh, and go ahead and imagine him not being a creepy dude with a violent gun fascination) and that’s a good frame of reference.

The song has already gained momentum at adult alternative stations and is the kind of happy song that screams to play in the background of a scene in a romantic comedy.  Let’s just hope it’s a good one because the song is.

About Josh Hathaway

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