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*** Bullyclub

LIKESONGS

(Pigeon Records)

After nearly three years of foot dragging, Portland’s “little band that could,” Bullyclub (formally Bully Pulpit), finally unveil their first CD release, Likesongs; reminding long-time fans and the uninitiated alike why brainy, guitar-driven pop, though not necessarily fashionable (least of all in local music circles), is still pretty darned cool.

üinger/songwriter/guitarist Doug Cowan (Between Dreams, Pluck Theatre), drummer John Nunan, and bassist Bill Irish (who was later replaced by Mark McDonough) formed the band in the late-’90s, drawing unavoidable comparisons for their emotive lyrics and unabashed, but intelligent, big-guitar swagger, to Bob Mould’s power trio, Sugar. Although Bullyclub’s studio outing boasts a bit less crunch in the guitar work and more caffeine than adrenaline in the delivery, time and attention taken in the production of Likesongs yields a refreshingly balanced sound for the band. On loan from regional pop darlings Spouse, José Ayérve contributed additional instrumentation and his ear for expanding solid but stalled arrangements. And the CD’s final mastering at the hands of Colin Decker (Lincolnville, The Shelia Devine) at Mworks in Cambridge, Massachusetts left the overall production of Likesongs clean and warm.

The vulnerability and reluctant nostalgia of the lyrics and the well-worn pop song structures ring familiar, but many cuts off Likesongs introduce new and disarming little hooks that reward a closer listen. Check out the delicate keyboard accompaniment in “Sickiss,” the quiet percussion in “Laundromat Lullaby,” and the intertwining guitars and harmonies in “Dummy.” Likesongs begins to lose steam toward its middle with the plodding “Leonard Cohen’s Bones” and the unfortunately just plain awful “Sad Assassin Sat,” but regains its feet with “Fail Better,” perhaps the CD’s most fully-formed offering. With its infectious bass liûe, noodle-free guitar dueling, catchy “na-na-na-na” vocal fills, and smart writing (“That picture locked in your locket/And the ring stuck in my front pocket/I was waltzing but she was a rocket/My great white hope”), “Fail Better” is simply great pop. Likesongs presents a slightly updated Bullyclub, and was, in all, well worth the wait.

Pete Hodgin