Super XX Man

X

(HUSH)

Record Review by Alexis Roberts

Super XX Man is a misnomer.  This is a name for a wrestler, or at least a heavy metal band—not a folksy singer who loves to tell us about how much he loves simple things.  But oh well…there’s no changing it now; Super XX Man (actually Scott Garred) has been making albums for ten years and I guess he’s pretty set in his name ways.

X is a very strange album.  I was confused by the occasionally creepy stalker-type lyrics that went along with guitar strumming and ambling lines like “bum, bum, bum, bum.”  But then I read the press release and it all started to come together.  Garred works as a music therapist at the Oregon State Hospital maximum-security wing.  There is something very therapeutic about calming music that contains very honest lyrics…sometimes too honest.  If part of my band consisted of my wife, I wouldn’t want to put in lines like “I don’t want to be married anymore” (“Up Up Up”).

X is reminiscent of the simpler Rilo Kiley songs, but the male-female vocals are reminiscent of The Lovemakers, The Brunettes and Joy Zipper.  Atop the guitar strumming, there is brushed drum, flute, accordion, and harmonica, supplied by the other people in the band:  Michelle Garred, Zach Boyle, and Ali Wesley.

If one doesn’t get too caught up in the lyrics, X is a very relaxing album.  So let your brain stop its worrying, get a nice drink in your hand, and listen to some Super XX Man.