“Everybody wants to be a winner” goes the chorus of Products Band’s new tune Winner. The Minneapolis-based quartet sounds about as far from the conventional idea of what that might constitute as is realistically imaginable. Like the awkward, nerdy outcast – as opposed to the popular good-looking “jock” – in a high school sitcom or teen movie, Winner is imbued with a vivid sense of anxiety and discomfort.
However, the artistic vision is realised with such impressive expertise, expression and conviction that you can’t help but think of it as a resounding victory.
Busting into life via an acapella start, lead singer Jo Kellen sings “it’s not simple, but it’s easy” and is quickly joined by the rest of the band’s instruments, and the whole thing seems to melt into focus.
Towards the end of the song, the guitars burst out of their cages and become wild and unshackled, and just as you feel like the band is beginning to hit their stride musically, it’s over. What a tease.
With a sound that’s part Pavement, part The Strokes and part Surfer Blood and with Deerhoof’s John Dieterich on board as producer, it feels like Products Band might be onto a winner after all.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
