Electric Beauty - Electric Beauty (2022)

Electric Beauty is a new trio of old friends and rock veterans from Minneapolis. The band's lineup includes Wayne Hasti on guitars, bass and vocals with Charlie Pine on vocals, piano, Hammond C3 and ARP Omni2. The group is rounded out by percussionist and drummer, Jim Tollefsrud.

Pine was the original fourth member of Husker Du. He played on their very early gigs, and he was also the first manager and producer of The Jayhawks. Hasti played with a host of underground legends, and Tollefsrud is a respected drummer in the Twin Cities.

Music writer and critic,Tom Moon wrote, "The more you love music, the more music you love." It's a quote I once used under the title of this blog that describes Electric Beauty well because they employ a wide range of rock & roll influences into their songs - everything from British Invasion to David Bowie, to modern rock.

All twelve tracks on this eponymous debut album originated from within the band. They're not lyrically heavy compositions - Pine stresses the words aren't all that important - but listeners shouldn't get the impression they're lightweight, pop fluff either. Instead, I found myself listening to all of the hooks and textures on these well-played tunes. All of them - especially the three instrumentals - use just the right amount of guitar and keyboards, and Tollefsrud knows when to play and when not to. You wouldn't appreciate a heavy-handed drummer anywhere on this pleasant record.

Some albums become tedious the deeper you get into them but that shouldn't be a concern here. The entire set clocks in at under thirty-six minutes, because as Pine says, the songs "know when it's time to go."

You can't file Electric Beauty under "Easy Listening" even though it's quite easy to listen to.

You can find out more and listen to a snippet of "Lonely at the Top" at Electric Beauty's official website.

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