Smarts - "Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?"

 Narrator: *Let's look in on our intrepid reviewer*

*He's standing at the kitchen counter wielding a knife. Okay, he's just chopping vegetables for a soup. There is some music being played through a tiny/tinny Bluetooth speaker behind him.*

*He hears something that makes him do a little dance. He has little rhythm. Wait he's going to speak*

"This is pretty fucking good."

/end scene

Such was my introduction to Australia's Smarts. The pace building bass driven riff of "Thinking Out Loud" had me reaching for my phone to mash the "heart" symbol before the vocals came in at 45 seconds. And there is a saxophone! What is going on here? And some synth? I'm in. 

I decided to do a little more digging and found this video from a live studio session this Summer. (I do so miss going to shows. Wear a damn mask people and let's shut this pandemic down!) 

The live sound is a little more stripped down because the sax player is also the synth player. In a studio, she could do both but in the live performances the sax is enough. I also think it stands out more from the guitars than the synth does in the studio recordings. 

My favorite track off the album is "Golden Arches". I think it does the best job of capturing their sound plus the lyrics are edgy. "...I'm the priest with my pants around my ankles every night..." If you want a tune that just drives, fire up "Cling Wrap". 

Have a listen and don't be shy about letting me know what you think.