The Seymores – Treat Her Like a Showcat – Review

The Seymores

Treat Her Like a Showcat (Caroline)
by Jamie Kiffel

With the lolling-tongue vocals of They Might Be Giants and some of the lyrical silliness of Violent Femmes and possibly The Kinks, The Seymores drop fairly neatly into the polka-dot and polyester plaid category of laughworthy pop. Unfortunately, their tunes remain stuck like a jack-in-the-box spring to the base of the pop formulas set up by all these groups, and often, their bounce does not reach high enough to touch the level of novelty that made these bands noteworthy.

Generally, although the vocals are appreciably easy to decipher and the music’s direction remains predictably constant, the necessary choral hooks to make this very silly style lovable and listenable never show up. While it is a nice change to hear a vocalist (David Fera) who does not fuzz out his voice under electronic tears and wah-pedal sobs, it is also necessary to swing all the way over to full-on guffaws (or at least ironic chuckles) if the aim, as it hints at being here, is novelty pop in the face of a bleary, sad-eyed rock world.