Apparently, a derecho is a violent straight-line windstorm, and this seems a bit of a misnomer, as this E.P. comprises of five tracks of bright jangling indie pop. Derecho is a project by Daniel Miller, Chris Jones and John Wenzel, who previously worked together in the ‘Dishwater Psychics’.
The first track ‘Plight of the Dropsonde Operator’ starts off in an upbeat fashion, with melodic guitar lines that wouldn’t seem out of place being compared to some of the ‘Velvet Underground’s’ more tender songs. I had to find out what a dropsonde was by checking in the dictionary (it is a weather reconnaissance device). This is a pleasant opener which seems to follow the age old problem of relationship splits.
“You were my friend. You’re not any more. I would repent if I only knew what for.”
‘Will You Tell Me?’ follows, and is pretty much more of the same, but with some clever lyrics about alienation within consumer society:-
“Another ad for a product to enhance the libido, I think I’m going to scream.”
This is quite clever and approached in a way that indicates both anger and resignation.
“And the morons and dregs we call politicians don’t understand my point of view” Right on! I think that this rings true for everyone today.
‘The Zoo Outside The Zoo’ is another slice of pure pop with some good harmonies, however the lyrics didn’t hit the mark for me on this one being somewhat all over the place.
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“I once knew a girl who loved to testify. Every time she got into trouble she’d make up a bigger lie”, as a result, this for me was the weakest track on the E.P.
‘Canadian Whiskey’ is a really great song about a character full of self-loathing and looking only for his next drink in order to feel better about himself. The lyrics are spot on, and the darker edged more brooding music suits the atmosphere perfectly.
“I’m having one of those moments when I want to kick my own ass….
been thinking a bit too much about what went wrong”and “I’ve become a disgrace, but with Canadian whiskey I’ll be fine.”
The closing track on the E.P. ‘measured in Millions’ has John Wenzel on vocals and is the perfect finish, being a stream of observation and comment.
“The clouds along the range were all standing at attention, and the colours of their insides were just too weird to mention”
I liked this E.P. and if this is a foretaste of things to come, then potentially a long player could be very good indeed.
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