The Tallahassee Democrat

Posted on Fri, Aug. 08, 2003
by Kati Schardl

Deep, dense beauty from the Swimming Pool Q's 

Ever since the Swimming Pool Q's latest CD, Royal Academy of Reality, landed in my lap, I've been trying to figure out how - and what - to write about it.This figuring-out process has stretched out over a few months - the disc was released on Bar/None Records in May. I have my reasons. Chief among them is the fact that I'm still savoring the succulent pop served up on the CD, the band's first studio effort since 1989's World War Two Point Five. The meat and marrow of band brain Jeff Calder's exquisitely crafted songs are so rich that repeated listenings are required for satisfactory gestation.I should mention that Calder is a treasured acquaintance of long standing, an erudite raconteur and keen-eyed observer of pop culture in all its absurd guises. So you can see my dilemma. I want to do Calder's creation justice, without gushing or, conversely, feeling compelled by our acquaintance to be unduly severe. Seeking guidance, I checked to see what others have had to say about Royal Academy of Reality. I found a gleaming heap of reviews salted with words like "superb," "a rock and roll Gravity's Rainbow, "breathtaking," "lush ...lovely" and "gorgeous." Now, those of you who know the Atlanta-based Q's chiefly from the band's late '70s/early '80s raucous and always entertaining Tallahassee shows are probably scratching your heads. Lush and lovely? Can this be the same band known for such intelligent and downright quirky hits as "Rat Bait," "The A-Bomb Woke Me Up," "Stock Car Sin" and "Walk Like a Chicken"? Royal Academy is like, and yet unlike, previous Q's output. The same intellect guides the music, but the music has made an evolutionary leap. From free-wheeling, sometimes self-consciously geeky garage rock, it's blossomed into something more melodically alluring and lyrically voluptuous.Some songs burst on the ear with the sudden force and electric sizzle of an August thunderstorm. Others open like furled flower buds, petal by petal, with imagery that's both winsome and passionate.The poetry of Calder's lyrics is cosmic in scope on songs such as the delicate, fervent "Light Arriving Soon," the dizzying "Out of Nothing" and the trippy, anthemic "The Earth Makes Us Feel Things." And his words are painterly and passionate on such sensual tunes as "Yesterday's Rain," "The Discovery of Dawn," "Everybody Knows Tomorrow" and "The Radio in Memphis."I reckon I've gone and gushed. But Royal Academy of Reality is so deeply, densely pleasurable that I would've done the same if I didn't know Jeff Calder from Adam. So there.