Lookatyourself Reggie Measuresworth Hilo HI

Lookatyourself Reggie Measuresworth

Sothen

Giglaeoplexis, 2006

http://sothenband.com

REVIEW BY: Vish Iyer

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 06/08/2007

The opening cut “Wanna Be” (if the real track 1 “Blinkpt” is considered an actual song at all) on the debut record Lookatyourself Reggie Measuresworth by Brooklyn-based Sothen starts off with the words “I don’t want a cheesecake or a new menu / I don’t want a newer hat / I don’t want a phony fuzzy pony / I don’t want a baby cat.”

This perfect attempt of adolescent poetry gets even better with the chorus “I just wanna be really mad for a girl,” which is just right for a band wanting to attract its target audience -- teenage college kids, who, of all the music listening populace, are most likely to identify with this kind of reference to everyday details of their lives. Or are they?

Sothen does give the impression of a typical college indie band that makes fun guitar-based music with lyrics that will not send one running to the dictionary or leave one with hours of relentless contemplation just to get the vague references made by the band to things that are beyond the comprehension of a typical beer-binging party addict who doesn’t need to be bothered with music that should make them take time off from their days of youth to waste on heavier things in life that involve pondering and reflection.

But Sothen is not your typical college indie band. Although this trio (brainchild of singer/songwriter/guitarist Reggie Measuresworth) writes mostly poppy numbers that might every now and then encounter subjects that an uptight music snob might find a little too trite and puerile, these guys -- unlike the rest of their kind -- spend way less energy on trying to inject needless melodrama when they are trying to sing of their love not being received on the other end the way they want it to (and be all “emo” about it), and actually focus on being musically creative and giving a song the best sound possible.