Back when MAGNET started in 1993, indie pop was all the rage: nerdy kids with cool record collections full of colored, marbled-vinyl seven-inches from K Records-inspired little-labels-that-could like the three “S”s (that’s Sarah, Slumberland and spinART for those of you who only can remember one Bush administration). They were simpler times, when zinesters with names like Archie, Toby and Joey shopped at brick-and-mortar thrift stores for cardigans to wear over their striped T-shirts, proudly donned Morrissey specs without prescription lenses and wept openly at all-ages twee-pop shows. Everything comes back into style 25 year later, so the time is right to get acquainted with A Certain Smile.
The Portland, Ore., quartet led by Thomas Andrew will self-release its debut album, Fits & Starts, on March 2, a nine-track LP that you can file right between the Boyracer and Field Mice CDs your riot-aunt gave you after she succumbed to Spotify. You can return the favor by turning her on to “Hold On, Call,” the opening track on Fits & Starts. Andrew says the song is “about long-distance love and the inequities of separation. I was in Philly on my own with my pug for a summer, while my partner was in Minneapolis. We’d talk everyday, but as time went on, I got more regular and on time with the calls, while she was having fun and it could slip here or there. It never mattered to me, as as soon as I got the call, I was all in.” Download and/or stream “Hold On, Call” below, and get all in with A Certain Smile.
“Hold On, Call” (download):
