THE LEG UP / Stephen M. Deusner

SING-ALONGS ALL AROUND

Let’s do what John Mellencamp says and get a leg up, get a leg over, boy. Here are three upcoming releases we think you should know about.

The Hold Steady: Stay Positive (Vagrant, July 15)

“Our songs are sing-along songs,” Craig Finn sings in the very first verse of the very first song on the Hold Steady’s new album. And sure enough, almost every song here sounds specifically designed to get fists pumping, lighters flying, audiences singing. All the need is one of those cool hand signs that Van Halen used to have, the one with the thumbs and index fingers touching and the pinkies extended. Work on that, guys. Stay Positive may not live up to the impossibly high standards of the previous two albums, but that’s almost like saying the Holy Ghost needs to hold up his end of this whole Trinity bargain. Ultimately, there are enough killer choruses and urban details to compensate for non-essential songs like “Yeah Sapphire” and “One for the Cutters.” “The sing-along songs will be our scriptures,” Finn decrees on the title track before breaking into a sing-along chorus like it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

On repeat: “Stay Positive”

David Vandervelde: Waiting for the Sunrise (Secretly Canadian, Aug 5)

David Vandervelde is obsessed with styles much older than him. On his full-length debut last year, he filtered English glam (specifically Marc Bolan) through Midwestern power pop (specifically Cheap Trick). From there he widens his range to take in very different ‘70s sources, namely Peter Frampton and Seals & Croft. As a whole, Waiting for the Sunrise is a better soft-rock exegesis than Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky, with much less noodling to boot. Like The Moonstation House Band, it’s a bit more re-creative than interpretive, and despite its August release date, it’s actually a pretty good summer album, perfect for lounging on the porch and letting the summer breeze blow through the jasmine in your mind.

On repeat: “I Will Be Fine”

Perhapst: Perhapst (In Music We Trust, Aug 19)

The promise of a solo album from Decemberist John Moen prompts a thousand drummer jokes, including the one with the punchline “Hey guys, why don’t we try one of my songs?” None of the other Decemberists took the bait, but Stephen Malkmus did (Moen is a former Jick). I didn’t know a guitar could arch its eyebrows. Despite a weak falsetto, Moen proves just as playful as his former bandleader, whether he’s putting extra quote marks on opener ““Quote,"” cribbing from the Traveling Wilburys on “Maryanne,” or singing sha-dooo ahhh over and over on “Incense Cone.” The results aren’t as bad as the joke predicts: Moen writes strong indie-pop hooks like they’re punchlines to his own in-jokes.

On repeat: “Harbour”

Stephen M. Deusner is a freelance music journalist based in Washington, DC. Don't ask him about Norwegian pop or house rabbits, unless you have a few hours.