Secret Meeting score: 80

by Philip Moss

Olympia, WA based, Calvin Johnson, is one of the most important figures in independent music history – such is the lineage he has mapped out through acts he has fronted (The Beat Happening, Selector Dub Narcotic and The Halo Benders), worked with at his label, K Records (The Microphones, Beck, Karl Blau), and influenced (Kurt Cobain, Belle & Sebastian, The Vaselines).

Despite the eclecticism of his output over the years, on his new record – Wonderful Beast – he’s shifted the goal posts again. This time putting together a collection of sharply focused, electro pop. And this is no more evident than on the opening trio – Kiss Me Sweetly (which is one of three songs to feature fine harmony vocals from The Wreckers’ Michelle Branch), A Wonderful Beast and Like You Do – which showcase his ear for finely crafted pop, and channel the best of John Grant’s last two synth orientated records.

Much credit must also go to producer, Patrick Carney. He has streamlined the idiosyncratic nature of Johnson’s heavily Beck influenced output under the Selector Dub Narcotic moniker, but still ensured that all the glam strut you’d expect from a core member of The Black Keys is here in Marc Bolan shaped bucket loads.

Perhaps the quirkiest cut is the Romeo and Juliet referencing, Wherefore Art Thou. Driven by yet more highly danceable, stabbing keyboards, it finds Johnson doing his best Iggy Pop impression and nestles itself comfortably into the ear on first listen. While Another Teardrop Falls carries a darker, more sinister underbelly – ‘What is that sound? Another teardrop hitting the ground. Another drop in the ocean in a world of tears’ – without losing insanely catchy feel which runs throughout.

So, the Godfather of American alternative music is back! Based on this outing, it is certainly a pleasure to have him around.

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