Spotlight: New Releases – IOA, “IOA”

contributor: Ed Thanhouser

Don’t let little pink-haired and bespectacled Amanda Spring fool you: Behind that big, earnest toothy grin is a brain teeming with musical ambition. After all, Spring’s been a veteran of the scene for more than 5 years as a core member of local psych-rockers Point Juncture, WA. Picking up her ukulele and branching off to pursue a decidedly different angle of songwriting, the debut disc from IOA (pronounced like “Iowa”) speaks for it’s leading lady’s wide-reaching musical palate. From the raucous, buttery horns that usher you into the disc, it’s clear Mrs. Spring has broken some new ground for this project. Culling a dream-team lineup from an assortment of her friends’ bands, including Team Evil, Paper/Upper/Cuts, and her own P.J. WA, the sheer variety of instrumentation at Spring’s disposal is impressive; even more so is the skill with which she utilizes it.

As I keep seeing more and more of them crop up around town, it would seem that the ukulele is something of an instrument in vogue for a certain set of Portland songwriters at the moment, much like bright blue glockenspiels before it. But trend or no trend, IOA may be the first artist I’ve heard to actually reference the traditional music from which the ukulele comes. IOAs music doesn’t simply substitute the bright, quaint uke tones for that of a guitar. Some of IOAs best tracks, like “Calypso” and “Dismal Niche” make good use of classic “island kitsch” without going full-blown campy or obnoxious. Only a couple songs end up really showcasing the ukulele itself, however. Instead, Spring’s multi-talented band of friends provide a lush, fully-realized orchestration throughout the disc. This musical cornucopia includes accordion, french horn, trumpet, vibraphone, and oboe, to name just a few. The real achievement here is that none of IOAs tracks end up crowded, or muddled, despite the layers upon layers of instrumentation piled up on tracks like “Boxcar Children,” “Hands” or “Faith on More.” The key is balance, and IOA proves herself a master of it.

Opener “Boxcar Children” is an arresting example of this balance. The song nestles its bounding latin percussion, and layers of vocal harmony deftly in a surrounding canopy of french horn, trumpet and other brass, as it re-tells one of my most nostalgic moments in “young-adult” fiction. Lyrically, Spring has a knack for getting a lot of mileage out of just a few key phrases. Returning again to the opening track, I can’t think of a more adorably concise way to summarize the quaint runaway fantasy book than, “Henry and Jesse lived under no rules at all/in a little red boxcar/with a cool little waterfall.” And yet, such an opener is still inadequate to prepare you the for the sheer musical magnitude of the ensuing tracks. Between the moody oboe of “Desolate Niche,” the dark synth-clavichord groove of “Faith on More” or the wailing blues harp wafting over “Hands,” there is enough sheer variety to satisfy even the most persnickety of listeners. Lyrically too, Spring swings deftly from sultry (“Dismal Niche”) to celebratory (“Nectarine”), cynical (“Candyland”) to whimsical (“Action Theme”) in a matter of chords. It’s perhaps only the clumsy, fatalistic solipsism and lurching chords of closer, “Sweet Entropy” that deserves a reproach here, as it takes us out with a whimper where we crave a bang.

All in all, it seems hard to think of IOA as a “side-project” to Point Juncture, WA. Instead, though it may be premature to say, IOA feels like a fully-dressed brainchild of the surrounding scene in which Spring has been living and working for these past years. The ambition of this debut disc would certainly have you believe this is no idle string-plucking of a moonlighting rock drummer. Am I being over-zealous when I say it seems all the metaphorical stars are here aligned? All the figurative ducks in figurative row, so to speak? Would I be presumptuous in drawing comparisons to certain high-profile examples of this sort of slick, moody, back patio music, like say… Leslie Feist?  Let us be content to say only that it would be unsurprising to see this project enjoy as much, if not greater, success than her regular rock outfit. At the very least, it would be an absolute shame to see it neglected.

IOA plays at The Woods with Team Evil and Quiet Countries Thursday, November 19th. www.myspace.com/ioasongs