Say Hi

“Northwestern Girls“
from the album The Wishes and the Glitch
2007
iTunes

On his fifth release, The Wishes and the Glitch, Eric Elbogen embraces change of all sorts, while still retaining his unique sound. Since last year’s Impeccable Blahs, much is different, as his Brooklyn-based three-piece, Say Hi to Your Mom, changed address (now Portland, Oregon), membership (adding Sam Collins), and even name (now just Say Hi). These and other changes have not caused Elbogen to radically reinvent his sound, but he has also not stuck himself in the mud. Wishes embraces more of a fuzzy, expansive sound, and Elbogen’s vocals are often given more force. Yet beneath it is still the same solid songwriting core.

The move to Cascadia provides the fodder for Wishes‘ strong opener, “Northwestern Girls.” Such a ‘mundane’ subject for a song is something of a change, in and of itself: Impeccable‘s tracks were all about vampires, and the three records before that were focused on robots. With its very fine beat and growing chorus, the limited but effective “Girls” provides a nice introduction to Say Hi’s new approach yet still is able to stand on its own.