The Controversial New Skinny Pill is one of my favorite pop groups of the last few years. While this release isn't their most recent (this is from 2016), this is an album I found infectious enough that I felt like re-listening again! Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Controversial New Skinny Pill is the brainchild of Houston, TX songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Skyler Nowinski while the live band consists of keyboard player Mariel Olivera (also of IE and XOXO Tech), Alana Horton on drums, Dan Dukich on bass, and Jared Hemming on auxillary percussion.
The album takes elements of hauntology and mixes it with some really extremely funky and progressive twists and turns in terms of melodic and harmonic surprises but with the backbone, downbeat, and counter rhythms of a funk or R&B group.
Nowinski is a stellar guitar player with an oftentimes heavily effected (particularly wah or auto-wahed) timbre, which matches his hauntingly soft and floaty voice. The drums are particularly fun and flossy with many subtle dynamic touches and crunchy grooves. The bass is smooth and in part funkier and more complex than you'd hear in many pop bands. This band has elements of the Bee Gees, 70s Beach Boys, and smoother post punk like Magazine as well as elements you might find in the Residents, early Beck, the poppier side of Chrome, or R. Stevie Moore. Raw pop appeal is really what this down low mid-fi production goes for with each track sounding like it was recorded in a unique, exotic studio. The keyboards are bright and synthy. Parts are constantly flowing in and out of one another with transitions like a prog band.
If I can express one thing enough; is that the songwriting on this album is crucial. The band has a style that speaks for itself and that style is laid back. The arrangements keep me re-listening but the lyrics are mind blowing. My favorite song on the record is definitely "Backsnapper". In the song, Nowinski says "a two way ticket to hell/shrug your shoulders and say oh well".
In conclusion, this was definitely one of my favorite albums from that 10s and worth checking out if you consider yourself a progressive listener or a pop listener or a progressive pop listener.
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