The slow death of guitar-based music is a narrative that keeps coming up. Guitar sales are in decline. Rock music—in the general sense—is nowhere near as popular as it once was. And mainstream pop? Forget about it. The only things you’ll find on the charts that employ guitars are Ed Sheeran and a handful of country-lite artists.
That’s not to say the alternatives are all bad. But guitars sure are cool. So are saccharine-laced hooks. And silky vocal harmonies. Portland’s Leading Psychics deliver all of this unabashedly on their forthcoming debut What About Lonely? (via This-A-Way Records). The record is seemingly at odds with the members’ punk roots.
“When we started the Psychics, it was based on the notion of indulgence—layers galore, harmonies—things that aren’t always so punk, but felt so good,” explains guitarist/vocalist (and co-founder) David Frederickson, who also formed one of Portland’s longest running bands, the Prids, with Mistina La Fave back in the mid-’90s.