Exurbian Quonset

Description

Sunny streets buried under a fog of pollution to wild nature amidst poultry, Mike Donovan has traveled the world, recording and performing for the past 20 years with, chronologically, The Ropers, Yikes, The Hospitals, Sic Alps, Ty Segall, The Peacers. Exurbian Quonset is Mike's third album, a true solo album in the literal sense where Mike created everything, from vocals and guitars to keyboards and the sound space. It’s underwater music, sung through gills, bubbling up to the surface for all of us to hear from solid ground. It’s also pure pop music. After a joyful Velvet-like racket, filled with clamors, ballads, and cavernous vocalizations as an opening, the sky clears and the birds appear, as if to signal a new season. The second half of the record reveals its true nature, ranging from "Wot Do Rich People Do All Day," a uncompromising Lennon-esque collage, to the cheerful "B.O.C. Rate Applied" McCartney-esque, to the Harrison-esque discouragement of "Nowhere Descender," creating a corroded effect that evokes the White Album without ever leaving its own (vague) territory - nor even cleaning it up! The atmosphere is only extended by the acid-tasting instrumental "Zone Dome," and the farewell ditty "My System," which brings down the curtain in a deviant and (Mike)Donovan-esque manner. Vinyl version.