At first, Smith Westerns seemed easy to peg: Chicago prep school teens play garage rock with a glam-rock slant. With 2011’s excellent Dye It Blonde, the group—singer/guitarist Cullen Omari, bass-playing brother Cameron and lead guitarist Max Kakacek (and a rotating cast of drummers)—began to step away from the garage-rock template. But once you’re pegged, you’re pegged, and Smith Westerns still got called a garage-rock band. That should change with Soft Will (Mom + Pop), the band’s third album. Its sunny disposition favors mid-tempo tunes and gentle singing, and it’s loaded with breezy melodies, drenched in reverb and laced with echoes of several eras of Britpop. Smith Westerns will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com. Read our brand new feature on them.
Max: A friend of mine gave me this song in a mix and I immediately became infatuated with it. Minimal percussion, a gross ’80s porno guitar solo and really only one lyric repeating throughout the song. The version I have is a terrible rip and is gets cut off at the end but enjoy!
