With 2017's
Natural Causes, and now this album,
Kelley Stoltz has settled into a nice groove that combines the loose-limbed classic pop sound of his early works with a low-key psychedelia that feels like an organic progression for him.
My Regime was recorded in the wake of the passing of
Stoltz's father and some other life changes, and it has a melancholic glow that imbues the quieter songs with some real sadness. The gauzy layered guitars, echoed-drenched vocals, lonely drum machines, and somber synths on tracks like "Sister" and "Fire on Fire" set the mood just above openly weeping; the treated vocals and blues swagger of "Your Life" portend deep thoughts and feelings just below the surface; and even some of the faster tracks, like the disco-fied "Baby Be Good to Me" or the
Church-inspired jangler "Turning Into You" have a downcast core. Balancing the traces of gloom, the other half of the album is a stark contrast that bounces from one goofy track to another. The loping "Uh Oh" sounds like
XTC as produced by
Jeff Lynne; "Perfect Stranger" is bubbling '80s new wave; the title track is strutting guitar pop with great layers of backing vocals bolstering
Stoltz's best croon; and, weirdest of all, with its rollicking, machine-driven beat, cheesy keys, and falsetto backing vocals, "Zonked" comes off like a silly dance track from an '80s teen comedy. It makes for an interesting listening experience that could have gone sideways except for a couple key factors:
Stoltz is a master at crafting hooky tunes no matter the sound or influence, and the two contrasting moods actually fit together very well. An all-downcast album would have been too much to take; an album that leaned too heavily in the direction of novelty songs would have been just as tough. Much like life, and especially after experiencing loss, things fluctuate wildly from sad to giddy and back again.
My Regime does a nice job of capturing the unpredictable nature of life over the course of 12 alternately thoughtful and goofy tracks that show him as the ever-evolving yet predictable good artist that he has been for many years.