Press
October 18, 2005
Bucketful of Brains UK 2005
The Early Years
Absolutely Kosher
The title of the CD might lead one to believe that these tunes were recorded many moons ago, but in fact these are recent songs by a contemporary band led by Jason Zumpano, who Bucketfull readers may remember as the main man of the ‘90s indie darlings, Zumpano. The Early Years proves that Mr. Zumpano hasn’t lost his knack for writing beautiful melodies and arrangements with the kind of powerful, tantalizing chord changes which are greatly reminsicent of The Left Banke. In fact, the album’s best tunes, such as “Flower,” “So Far From Me,” and “I’m Just Not There” would make Michael Brown proud. Others like “I Wouldn’t Mind” feature a nice duet with Zumpano and Lucy Brain, and the best track ,”Gone”, is centered on a repeating piano riff which is bolstered by a beautiful interplay between vocals and strings. Lovely!
Hopefully “The Early Years” actually implies that there is more to come, because this disc is a damn fine beginning. (www.inflightmusic.com)
David Bash
October 14, 2005Times of Acadiana 2005
Sparrow: The Early Years (Absolutely Kosher) — Don’t be put off by the red herrings: talented, nostalgia-drunk garage-pop musician Jason Zumpano names his latest band after a famous calypso singer (Sparrow) then titles that band’s third album The Early Years (although it was recorded last summer), thereby misleading calypso fans and nostalgia-drunk garage-pop fans simultaneously. For the most part, Zumpano’s latest attempt to capture the perfect record he’s been hearing in his head since his Sub Pop debut 10 years ago makes getting past such camouflage worth the effort; and, in case you’re among the too many who don’t know, Zumpano’s perfect record is a mixture of psychedelically delicate Left Banke pop and as much psychedelically indelicate Jimmy Webb “MacArthur Park”-era overproduction as an indie band’s relatively limited budget will allow. Rating: Three-and-a-half Renees walking away through all that sweet green icing flowing down out of five.
October 13, 2005Magnet 2005
“Jason Zumpano’s name gives him both a leg up and a tough bar to clear. The
Canadian band that bore his surname released two excellent albums for Sub
Pop in the mid-’90s, and it probaly would’ave disappeared into obscurity if
Zumpano singer Carl Newman hadn’t launched the New Pornographers. With
Sparrow, Zumpano (the guy) seems comfortable twirling in his own section of
Portland, chugging along earnestly and tunefully but never attempting the
grandiosity of his ex-bandmate. That’s fine: The Early Years shares sonic
space with Robert Schneider’s various incarnations (Apples in Stereo,
Marbles, et al), winking at psychedelia but always keeping its feet in
unassuming, song-first shoes.”
Vancouver Province 2005
Jason Zumpano thinks in terms of how his songs will be orchestrated, not just accompanied. This means trumpets as well as the usual guitars, basses and drums. Zumpano first gained attention with the band Zumpano, which excelled at upbeat, tune-filled pop. As leader of Sparrow, he hasn’t changed much. An EP was darker and more reflective, but this cd is as melodic as before though more keyboard- based. Brass embellishes songs that put him in the tradition of songwriters such as Nilsson, Jimmy Webb or Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Sparrow can rock, but not in obvious ways.
Mundane Sounds 2005
Because it’s raining and cold outside and it’s kinda feelin’ like England, I find myself in a Sixties ‘retro’ mindset. Who better to spend time with than Jason Zumpano, the man who created some great bubblegum-pop records in the mid 1990s? True, The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman was in the band, and he gets a lot of the attention these days, but Zumpano’s not to be written off easily as an also-ran.The Early Years (not actually a collection of early tracks, it’s all new material) is just as sunny and as bright as Zumpano’s other work, even if it’s not as crunchy or as ornate. There’s a definite mid-60s British invasion feel to the record (more Kinks, less Beatles), but The Early Years isn’t particularly ‘retro,’ either.
Instead, what we’ve got here is a batch of sunny pop songs that simply shimmer. Personal favorite? I’m a sucker for “The Early Years,” with its upbeat tempo and Zumpano’s lackadaisical chorus of “How do I get from heeeeeeeerrrreeeeeee?” that’s tempered with a really nice mixture of strings and trumpet. But I’m also a sucker for the boy/girl harmonies throughout the record, which are provided courtesy of Lucy Brain. Take, for instance, “I’m Just Not There.” Before listening to it, it’s hard not to think of “She’s Not There,” and yeah, the vocal tag reminds a little bit of that classic Zombie tune, but it’s not a rip-off or anything like that. There’s plenty of strings and brass but not too much; The Early Years’ songs are not heavy duty baroque pop, it’s just a guy havin’ a good time making music that sounds like the records he likes.
I guess that’s what makes The Early Years’s retro-pop stylings so nice; they’re sugary and sweet and they don’t sound like a damn rip-off of someone else. Plus, any band that uses a damn trumpet is a-okay in my book!
–Joseph Kyle
Maximum Ink 2005
The whimsical, wound-up chamber pop of Vancouver’s Sparrow magically cranks out sunny melodies like cotton candy. Strings swell as horns soar while rambunctious jingles of charmed sincerity suggests vaudeville operettas and choirboy carnivals. Subverting cliches and distorting formulas, “Early,” fills itself with rollicking waltzes, radiant harmonies, bouncy arrangements and bemused self-reflection.
September 11, 2005Knoxville News 2005
Sparrow’s aptly titled “The Early Years” is a tuneful throwback to naive pop from decades ago, when production values were iffy by today’s standards, though charm was more abundant.
Independent pop hasn’t found the sturdy foothold currently enjoyed by indie rock, but lively acts like Sparrow could make a difference: The band from Vancouver, Canada, gleefully goes retro on “The Early Years” with psychedelic and New Wave flourishes.
Frontman Jason Zumpano’s nasal vocals tend to grate and drone, but he compensates with heartfelt delivery and, as a songwriter, with catchy melodies. Additional singer Lucy Brain creates dynamic harmonies with her more conventionally pleasing voice.
Zumpano also drives the instrumentation on “The Early Years,” pounding away on piano, Rhodes and farfisa. He hammers his keyboards relentlessly, supported by an eclectic mix from guitarist/trumpeter Rob Calder, bass player Shane Nelken, violinist Kim Koch, drummer Josh Lindstrom and cellist Megan Bradfield.
Opening cut “Flower” follows Calder’s trumpet line into a carnival romp of a song that might fit well in a 1970s British pop opera. But the title track - with its quirky synths, urgent rhythm and vocal crescendos - is the star of “The Early Years.”
Yet nowhere on the album does the spirit fade. Sparrow flies through the buoyant infection of “This Is How It’s Done,” the frolicking “ah ah ahs” of “Late Last Night” and the scruffy “All Two by Two” that folds a sawing-strings break into the raucous beat. And Sparrow still has energy to spare on closing cut “I’m Just Not There,” where each instrument has a moment of flurry.
“The Early Years” is an unquestionably humble entry into the super-glossy world of modern pop, and that’s just what makes Sparrow soar.
Indiepop.it 2005
Pubblicato da Absolutely Kosher Records, il secondo atto di Sparrow sfoggia sorprendenti corpi pop rock vestiti in tessuti orchestrali. In questo suo progetto “laterale”, Jason Zumpano ordisce con polso fermo un piccolo e verosimile reame di poco più di mezz’ora di vita, in nove piccoli mosaici sgargianti e scaltri.
Come nulla fosse, fa vestire con abiti d’altri tempi le proprie minuzie di tre accordi killer (frequente l’uso di archi, violino e violoncello), reinventando, come trovando una nuova maniera, imprevedibile eppure spontanea, insinuante.
Si recupera una freschezza sempiterna, quell’abbaglio e la fatalità dei prodromi powerpop vinilici di fine anni settanta, un’encomiabile forza melodica che mai indugia su se stessa o si ripiega: piuttosto ci appare diretta, sempre desiderosa, gravida.
È il caso di “I Wouldn’t Mind”, “This is How It’s Done”, “The Early Years”, mentre le sfavillanti sembianze di “Late Last Night” e di “Flower”, dolce tenue ballata con incipit di tromba, sono mirabili esempi di equilibrio ed eleganza, sarebbero potute appartenere ai Cardinal di Davies e Matthews.
Efficace la controparte femminile Lucy Brain, assistenza costante al nostro, attraverso liriche disagiate, una confortevole presenza reciproco asilo e sostegno.
Ma l’ambizione Jason Zumpano non esita a misurarsi coi maestri pop anni sessanta. Più avanti infatti, “So Far From Me” e “I Wouldn’t Mind” (l)ambiscono giardini soft-pop, gli stessi di The Left Banke e Curt Boettcher. Pregevolissimi poi i cori in falsetto su “Gone”, breve interludio meditabondo capace di tenere un cosmo di suggestioni.
Fabio
September 10, 2005Bank Robber Music 2005
Being a drummer in a mid-1990’s seminal band that sounded like the Zombies might leave you with a nice resume and not much else, which is where Jason Zumpano stood a few years ago. Now, with Sparrow’s second record, The Early Years, (Absolutely Kosher), Zumpano proves that drummers can also front bands (”Photograph” by Ringo was no fluke!). String swells? Check. Catchy harmonies? Check. Pianos? Check. One of the summer’s best songs? Check, check, check.
The Vue 2005
My musical tastes tend towards a darker sound, so my first impression of the bouncy, retro-flavoured tunes on Sparrow’s The Early Years was that they were just too light and breezy to leave much of a mark on me. But sometimes music only becomes interesting when you spin it again and again, leaving first impressions behind, and such was the case here. Digging further down revealed a depth that I was initially unaware of, and it turns out that the early-‘60s-influenced melodies are merely the first layer in the Sparrow experience.
Sure, the music still reminds me of Yellow Submarine-era Beatles, but Sparrow prefers to build on that sound rather than simply copy it. There are some nice surprises to be had: the organ that surfs along on the propulsive beats; the textures provided by the horns and violin; the spidery guitar lines; the male/female vocal harmonies, courtesy of Jason Zumpano and Lucy Brain—it’s the harmonies that are really grabbing me right now. There’s just something about the way the voices mesh that sets the sound apart from every other harmonizing group.
No, Sparrow’s not changing the world with this album, but I don’t think that’s what they’re trying to accomplish anyway. They’re doing something right if they’ve put together an album that gets more interesting each time you listen to it, and it sure is fun to watch it unfold. —Eden Munro