Barely 20-something indie glam rock darlings Smith Westerns created one of the finest albums of 2011 in Dye It Blonde. They’ve got a new one due out in June and the first single, “Varsity,” follows in its footsteps of songs about heart-wrenching longing with a heavy dose of adolescent zest. That brand of fixated, naïve young-love comes across on the track, but the band reportedly feels like this new album is more mature and personal than their last.
“Varsity” downplays the band’s big glam guitar riffs for a high synth melody instead. It’s breezy and playful, capable of getting easily stuck in your head. Lead singer Cullen Omori doesn’t just sing here — he truly does emphatically croon falsetto lyrics about settling for nothing less than the best: “I’m always there to win / or it wasn’t anything”. It’s about not settling for anything less than whatever object of affection Omori is idealizing and fantasizing about (“You’re a four-leaf clover / you’re an only kind of one”). The T. Rex-ness and slightly restrained Smith Westerns bravado is still there, but something tells me that this will likely be one of the more subdued tracks from the forthcoming album though not one of the less poppy ones.
Smith Westerns are proving to be pros at writing these tunes about aching desire that may or may not be so serious (or at least taken by themselves so seriously). Whatever their true meanings, they’re great fun to listen to.