Lawrence McCluskey loves jangle pop, which is no news to anyone who has heard his work with his project
Bubblegum Lemonade (which most of the time is just
McCluskey and his home recording setup). But the third
Bubblegum Lemonade album,
Some Like It Pop, suggests that jangle pop likes
McCluskey more and more with each passing year. Stylistically,
Some Like It Pop isn't terribly different than
BL's previous work, which is to say it follows the path of left-of-center pop music from
the Byrds through the C-86 era to
Teenage Fanclub and
Primal Scream, but
McCluskey's myriad obsessions seem better unified into a warm and melodic style of their own in this third go-round. The tunes move more gracefully on
Some Like It Pop, and the overall tone is more playful and a bit less self-conscious than it was on
BL's sometimes clumsy debut.
McCluskey is still the principal creative voice on this set, but he does bring in a few friends to add vocal and instrumental flourishes, and the result is an album that sounds and feels more organic and comfortable than what one might expect from
Bubblegum Lemonade, even on the tracks that only feature
McCluskey. And while
Some Like It Pop is a considerable distance from wacky, there's more easygoing humor to be found on this album, as indicated in song titles like "Famous Blue Anorak," "Dead Poets Make Me Smile," and "Mr. Dreaming's Bland House." In some respects,
Bubblegum Lemonade still sounds as much like a fan's project as a "real" band, but
McCluskey has at least made an album that suggests he's a promising semipro rather than a hobbyist, and
Some Like It Pop is his best and most engaging music to date.