When D.C.’s Georgie James split in the summer of 2008, co-frontman John Davis already had an album’s worth of studio-ready songs in his repertoire. It’s not a particularly compelling origin story for Davis’ first solo project, Title Tracks—one door closes, another opens, yadda yadda yadda—but the break-up backdrop does provide some insight into the surprisingly melancholy lyrical tone of his debut LP, It Was Easy (which will be released Wednesday, March 10, at The Black Cat). Despite a hefty dose of bubbly pop hooks and sing-along melodies, much of It Was Easy has the feel of a heartfelt break-up album, sprinkled with woeful themes of exposed vulnerability, unmet expectations, and wasted energy. Davis’ unabashed love for bridge-heavy power pop stays in the fore throughout the record, but its presence is most prominent in the opening tracks. “Every Little Bit Hurts” is an angst-soaked pop ditty accented with guitar jangles and rushed verses, faintly reminiscent of Ted Leo’s early work; “Black Bubblegum” tests the listener’s limits for sugary pop riffs, but conveniently comes to a close just before the diabetic coma kicks in.
Though the entire record nestles in the cushy realm of semi-polished pop rock, moments in its second half flash a darker side of Title Tracks. “Found Out” channels the punkier corners of Davis’ notoriously deep reference pool, most notably The Jam. “Piles Of Paper” comes off as the album’s most self-referential piece. The line “Don’t make me over, I’ve already tried to turn a snare into a lute” sticks out in the track, seemingly alluding to the sonic leap from his early work (at least compared to the sing-shout vocals and disjointed rhythms of his stint as the drummer for Q And Not U), while playfully jabbing at the artistic compromises and lack of fulfillment associated with his previous project.
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