Self

Breakfast with Girls (Spongebath/Dreamworks)
by Jamie Kiffel

Matt Mahaffey has built powerful, sexy pop that digitizes hooks that stop you short and jerk you back at all the right places, pushing hard and driving it in on the alternate grinds. Gimmicks like megaphone singing and galactic squeals work well with Mahaffey’s roll-forward right sense of rhythm. Even with a plain old tenor, Mahaffey demands control and attention, rhyming triple-syllables with ease.

Choruses don’t let up on the ear, with lines like “Let’s give it all away to get you into bed” sung with driving intensity. There’s a strong pop element here, but also a lick of Beck’s signature patter – plus added gusto. Tight, bassy grooves, well-placed digital effects, and even one tune not unlike Super Mario Bros. keep its head above the anvil of angst. And then there’s the Pez-zy aspect – lines like “Your love’s better than aliens tonight,” set to a sweet pop waltz. You can’t get more rock electric candy pop than that… but with steel filings in the tablets, to keep the edge, of course.