Review: Lily Livers – “Sunny Side Up”

Outloud! Records, 6 June 2021

Lily Livers tug all the slop pop hooks they can outta Michigan.

Okay, so close your eyes for a moment and bear with me.  Try to go back to the first Replacements record, Sorry Ma, and get that feeling of chaotic youthful abandon that took hold as great songs like “Takin a Ride”, “I Hate Music”, and “I’m In Trouble” blew out your ears.  Now, take that and toss in some more overt high-energy pop punk hooks and you’ve got something approaching Lily Livers.

Sunny Side Up, the newest Lily Livers record (and the first full length I’ve admittedly taken the time to listen to), is full of infectious feel good songs that put a smile on my face.  Songs like “Googly Eyes” (which I reviewed by itself earlier) set me up for something good, but I wasn’t ready to fall hard like I have.  On Sunny Side, I just keep thinking about the songs…man oh man, the songs.  Opener “Beer in the Window” gives up the goods right away, dealing in buzzing slop pop punk with addicting melodic hooks that double down with a second vocal and fantastic “whoa-oh” parts on the chorus while snaking a cool guitar lead behind the scenes.  The follow up, “Leave Me Alone”, is maybe my favorite on this thing.  The vocal melody sounds super familiar to me – I keep trying to connect it to something and can only come up with it sounding like an old timey country melody or some stuff like that – and the tandem vocals are just right – on the verge of falling apart, but admirably holding on for dear pop life.  Plus, I love the line “leave me alone, I just need to spend some time all by myself, so I can rest my weary mind”.  Amen.

Other Sunny Side songs like “Kyle and Damien” and “Our Rock – Our Home” bang away with an enviable enthusiasm that comes across like the band is keen to romp around, and I’m for surely keen to listen.  Both are a rambunctious riot, with a touch of sweetness, some snotty angst, and grappling hooks set against a sloppy good din.  Elsewhere, “I Live in a Dream” opens with an infectious guitar while the bass and drums hold down the fort. And the descending sorta-melancholy chorus melody seems to drop from the heavens and won’t get outta my brain while the backing vocals and guitar accents show an attention to pop hook details that come up again and again.  It’s so fun.  At the end, “Never Let Me Know” throws a few curveballs.  It opens with some mellow acoustic guitar and some midi keys (maybe?) that sound like the accordion Krist Novoselic plays on Nirvana’s unplugged rendition of “Jesus Don’t Want Me For a Sunbeam” before taking off with more high-energy righteousness.  The lead vocals sound real good on this one as they sing along and tangle with shouted backing vocals before everything winds down reprising the instrumental parts of the intro, this time with a drum stomp.  The goods keep coming.

Sunny Side Up lands real right for me.  It’s catchy as shit pop punk with all the hooks I could dream up.  Ripping a line I used in a review of the “Googly Eyes” single: If you’ve ever seen a band live and all of a sudden a few randoms get on stage and get all thrilled as they scream into the mics, that’s what I’m hearing here.  There’s nothing wrong with that.

Favorite song: “Leave Me Alone” for today at least

Favorite moment: the melancholy chorus melody on “I Live in a Dream”

Favorite whatever else: the sloppy reckless abandon vibe smeared all over the record is just a blast