Boston’s power pop, garage scene has no shortage of guitar pickers looking to make Beantown proud at home and across these here United States. Among these eager young space case cadets that are on the rise is garage pop four-piece Pretty & Nice. Beginning as a two piece project in the lost city of Burlington VT, the lineup has expanded and spent the better half of a decade making their way through basements and dive bars making their mark as a self-made touring band. Now, they prepare to release their new full length album with an odd collection of off-tempo pop anthems that the band hopes to use to cement their place as one of Boston’s most recognizable bands.
Pretty & Nice premiered in 2006 with the punk/60’s garage influenced Pink & Blue; a ten song L.P recorded by the band’s founding members Holden Lewis and Jeremy Mendicinio. Once forming into a full touring band, they released an EP’s worth of selected remixes called Blue & Blue. Gaining the support of independent record label Hardly Art, they became a hit in the Boston area with their second full length album, Get Young. The band has since toured nationally several times over and has had great success as a returning act to Austin’s SXSW festival.
This third LP keeps many of the band’s original sounds and trademarks in tact, but has a much more ambitious production and theme. With the mantra “We are all instruments” strewn throughout, the songs possess a series of tempo shifts, tone divergents, and quirky pop hooks. Reminiscent of such modern bands as Vampire Weekend and classic acts as David Bowie, it is both poppy enough to be accessible but interesting enough to study. For promotion of the new album, the band will be releasing a 7”, Fantastic Artifact. The release will include a single from the upcoming album entitled Yonkers as well as a cover of Genesis’s "Get Better". The full L.P. is due out in the summer.–Anthony Geehan