Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Local CD review

The Estradas
Last Summer's Folding Chair (Lynn Point Records)

There's something kind of appropriate about the Estradas finally recording and releasing their first album five years after they broke up. The band's bittersweet pop was already wistful and nostalgic; hearing it now—recorded by original Estradas Bob McCluskey (vocals and guitar), Michael "Ponch" Goldman (guitar) and Jason Peters (drums), with former Faults and V-roys bassist Paxton Sellers—just emphasizes how excruciatingly romantic these songs really are.

Sometimes it's a bit much. Ten songs and 30 minutes worth of mid-tempo, minor-key jangle pop about breaking up and romantic ineptitude can sound belabored. But each song, on its own, is a gem of mid-'90s Knoxville pop—particularly the melancholy "Two Fallen Angels" and the punchy "No Miracles Mile." Goldman's lead guitar runs through them all with warmth and a gentle grace that complements songwriter McCluskey's discontented yearnings, and the Peters/Sellers rhythm section keeps things going with a restrained swing. McCluskey's voice isn't the greatest, but his honest, everyday inflection lends the tunes an intimacy that's often revealing.

There's no earth-shattering breakthrough here; the Estradas weren't the long-lost band that should have made it but didn't, and they're not a missing link in the development of the local scene. But they did make some good music, and it's nice to have that down on record.

—Emma "Calgon take me away" Poptart