CONNECTIONS - Foreign Affairs-coloured-

Since 2013, Columbus, Ohio's Connections have made four nearperfect
albums of lo-fi pop majesty for the seminal Midwest label Anyway
Records, and "Foreign Affairs" - their latest album (and first for Trouble In
Mind), continues that winning streak with fifteen songs packed with sardonic
tunefulness and Buckeye bombast, firmly planting them in the canon of
the Ohio Sound.
Connections sprung forth from the ashes of Nineties pop band 84 Nash,
infamous for being the only non-GBV related band released on Robert
Pollard's own Rockathon Records and comparisons to the Indie Rock
underdogs seem inevitable, if not a little shortsighted. Connections'
brand of indie rock definitely has one foot in The Nineties but maintains
a classicist's penchant for nuanced & timeless rock'n'roll. Many songs use
classic pop structures (see "Love Me Still"s quiet/loud/quiet power
ballad-isms) but subvert them with a clever melodic twist, a bonkers twinguitar
solo or unexpected synth squiggle underneath. These guys have
done their homework, but nothing feels studied - they've drunk from the
waters of the Ohio Underground and the tunes flow forth naturally, with
nods to their Nineties brethren (GBV, Breeders, Gaunt) as well as
idiosyncratic Midwest legends like Mike Rep and The Quotas or Thomas
Jefferson Slave Apartments. For every obvious, life-affirming hit on 'Foreign
Affairs' (the bouncy "Good Cop" or bombastic "Low Low Low") there are
equal numbers of stealthy earworms like the chiming "Short Line" (with it's
humming anti-chorus), or the yearning, organ-drenched "Downtown" to name
a few. The sixteen songs ooze familiarity and an instant lyrical relatability,
with singer Kevin Elliot's lyrics reveling in the everyday's little details; good
friends, love and rock 'n' roll with restlessness and desire in a harsh,
unforgiving but still beautiful world.

Vinyl release of Connections - Foreign Affairs-coloured-. Released through TROUBLE IN MIND RECORDS and available on LP.