SFTS: The A-Sides

"I feel like we're getting closer to a time where actualpopular music can be brilliant again," explains Jon Barthmus of Philadelphia's The A-Sides, "and that's really exciting." But will "pop music" ever be clearly defined?

"Fairly early in the pop life cycle something got lost. Now it doesn't have the same currency that it used to. For me it implies an invisible force. Something that just connects with people on some kind of bizarre level and on a massive scale."

Barthmus goes on to say that while his interpretation may have nothing to do with the actual definition, he strongy believes it comes down to one thing. "People are crafting melodies all the time but for some reason some just hit you more than others. Its all just combinations of notes and words."

While there may be no clear definition for pop music, the A-Sides seem to have hit on a formula that works for them. Regarding their latest release, Hello,Hello, the Philadelphia Weekly wrote, "Jangly and crisp, the album recalls a Shins record in its mining of familiar '60s influences for a lush, bright-hued sound that feels brand-new. It's stronger and sweeter than nearly every record that came during the "Psychedelphia" phase of Philadelphia's indie rock scene."

TGB spoke to Jon Barthmus of The A-Sides, a band who consider themselves the quintessential free pizza.

Your lyrics are very optimistic. Are you a "glass is half-full" person? band?

I would say that we are a glass half-full type band. I don't know if some of the lyrics are really all that optimistic. A lot of them are more indifferent than anything. The newer material has a much wider range of emotion. Less about love, more about death, and life.

Magnet Magazine wrote that you were wanting "to escape from this dazzling hall of mirrors..." Where would like to escape to?

First off, the hall of mirrors bit was the Magnet writer's deal, not ours. For us, it's not really escapism, just progression. If you follow the life of our band from demo, to 7" record, to this full length, it's been quite a transformation already. Most of it was just testing the waters, trying to write great pop music. We were studying the people that have done it best and those influences were huge. It seems like now we're ready to really do it in our own way. The future for us will take these melodies, and harmonies and put them in a different context. It won't sound 60s, although the remnants will be there. So if we're trying to escape anything, it's our own preconceptions about music and sound.

I sense that your sound is akin to picking fruit from a variety of trees in a single grove. If another band were to go through the A-Sides grove of trees, what would they be picking?

If another band were picking from our grove I would hope that they would dig a little bit and pick the seeds. So far I think the essence of our music has been more interesting than the superficial product. The sound quality and the melodies, the ideas and the fascination. It's a pretty good blueprint I think.

How has Hello, Hello surpassed your expectations? Where has it fallen short?

When we went in to record the album we had never put in any significant studio time. Especially not in such a great studio with such amazing people. Brian McTear had a huge influence on the sound of that record because of his knowledge regarding the recording process and his understanding of sound. It sounded exponentially better than any of us could have imagined and that's the most important part.

We would have liked to have seen better distribution but working with such a small label (Prison Jazz, who are amazing!) has its limitations. The record does seem to be continuing making its way around. New things keep popping up so it still has some life in it. It has been over a year since we recorded it though so more than anything we're ready for another round. Hello, Hello will always have a place for us, but we're too excited about our newer songs to dwell on it.

Label: Prison Jazz - www.prisonjazz.com
Also available: Seeing Suzy/Going Gone (7")