Since the turn of the 2000s, seeing the name Kelley Stoltz on the cover of an album meant that the contents were sure to be guitar pop music of the highest quality, produced with a sure hand and played with consummate skill. 2020's Ah! (etc) is no different. It is of a piece with Stoltz's previous few albums that combined moody post-punk with jangling power pop and stripped-down indie rock to come up with a sound that's immediate and a little melancholy, though also prone to moments that are almost giddy. Like them, Ah! (etc) is a sampler of all the things he does best, whether it's gloomy post-punk made to be listened to while wearing an overcoat and squinting hard against the rays of the sun or sunny power pop built out of jangling riffs deemed too bright and crisp for Dwight Twilley's consumption. "Dodged a Bullet" and "The Quiet Ones," songs that balance Stoltz's archly sung vocals with gleaming shards of guitars, Hook-y bass, and heavy synths, are prime examples of the former, while the radiant ballad "Some Other Time" is one of the latter. Elsewhere, Stoltz works his time-tested magic with rambling, country-ish rock on "Never Change Enough," oddball '50s pop silliness on "Moon Shy," murky psych pop on "Tomorrow," and even indulges in some straight-up New Wave novelty with the goofy "She Likes Noise." As with all his albums, it's easy to admire the craft on display and that's true here as well. On Ah! (etc), the songs are the true stars of the show. The hookiness is off the charts, the melodies are stickier than hot sidewalk gum, and it's the most consistent batch Stoltz has turned in since Below the Branches, a fact that should give people even more reason than usual to check out this record. It's hard to find anyone doing better, more reliable work in this field, and it's a joy to hear Stoltz exceeding expectations and making a record that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his best.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo