#lovetap!

[sick-tunes]

“'Cause you are the one they spoke about. I never believed I'd make it out. You weren't around for quite a while. Were you saving all the killer whales?”

[930club]

REASONS TO COME EARLY: Smallpools

First, a flashback to October 31, 2014 – a costumed 9:30 Club crowd awaits Smallpools’ arrival to the stage. I, in my gold digger costume (I wore a gold, lamé skirt and a headlamp – get it?), was enjoying my third ever night at the Club. My friends and I catch the attention of a middle-aged woman who ends up being the mom of Sean Scanlon, the lead singer of Smallpools, and she pulls us to the front of the room. Smallpools takes the stage in their best Halloween attire and gives the crowd a preview of their upcoming debut album, Lovetap!. Only a year or so old at the time, Smallpools already knew how to headline a show and work a crowd with songs that can turn all of us into dancing machines.

Almost exactly three years later, Smallpools is back again to support NYC pop band Misterwives. Their set is sure to feature new tracks from their latest release, an EP entitled THE SCIENCE OF LETTING GO, featuring more songs that are sure to get your feet moving. We already know Smallpools knows how to make us dance (need I remind you that their first single, “Dreaming,” was EVERYWHERE and was even remixed by The Chainsmokers?). What I really want to know is whether Sean’s mom will be there when they sing their new song, “Mother.” Guess we’ll have to wait until October to find out.

-Alison Dundore 

Get tickets here to see Misterwives with Smallpools and Vinyl Theatre at 9:30 Club on October 28.

[sick-tunes]

"She doesn't panic from the warning signs. She's hiding under foreign cotton and sheets of ice until I come around and clear her mind. But I know who you are, so why don't we start again? It was colder by the pond, so she wore a pair of my gloves. Then, she flew me to Milan. She calls me her 'American love.'"

[analbumeachday]

LOVETAP! by Smallpools

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Standout Tracks:

American Love

Killer Whales

Dreaming

Over & Over

Lovetap!

What's That A Picture Of?

No Story Time

Have I heard this album before today?

Yes

[kidpix-album-covers]

Smallpools - LOVETAP! (2015)

[withthebugs]

Albums of the Year

Day Three

Today we will be listening to LOVETAP! by Smallpools

I would like to start by thanking my lovely friend Jo for recommending this ablum to me! 

Personally I have never conscienously listened to anything by Smallpools but my Spotify says otherwise, so I can only conclude that this was on some playlist that I found on tiktok. I would like to add that this is perfectly valid because this feels like it should be the soundtrack to a mid ‘10s YA novel and I am saying this with my whole chest. When I picture an ablum that could be used to go with some sort of John Green Teenage Rebellion Novel, this is the album that comes to mind. This is the only correct answer and I will not be taking any citisism at this point. 

American Love - Very upbeat. Now I have never been to Warped Tour, but I do imagine this would be performed at least once. Now I don’t know if it is just my speakers or if it is the sound, but for some reason I am having a hard time understanding the words. I had to pull up the lyrics to this song just to understand what was being said. That might just be me but the singer lacks in the diction department. 

Killer Whales - In the best way possible this sounds like a one direction song that would be played in a futuristic dystopia, but only before we discover who the villain is and what the protagonist plans on doing about the villain. Also while I feel as though the killer whales are being used as a metaphor for the song writers feelings about themselves, we love an activist in this house. I also feel like the chorus was either look long or used too often as this song felt like it took absolutely forever to get done. 

Dreaming - This is the song that my Spotify claims that I have listened to and it all makes sense now. This song fits the teen between ‘14-’16 in 2015 vibes and I feel like the Smallpools fans that fit this category were very happy at the time of its release. This could easily have fit in with a 1 Direction/5SOS vibe.

Karaoke - A very different vibe, especially after Dreaming. I feel like I got whiplash with the speed of that vibe change. This is giving me very much Pick Me; We Need to Get Out of This Deadbeat Town vibes and it is for that reason I think this is my least favorite song on the album. There is just something about it that I don’t like about it. I think it might be that this feels like it should be a party song and it just isn’t.

Street Fight - So I was a young teen in 2015 and I am only now entering adulthood now, so I do not have much recollection of that time in my life. But if I had to guess this song sounds like it was ahead of its time. This feels like a 2017/18 song that would have hit towards the end of the summer just as people are making montoges of their summer time adventures to show their friends. Which is unfortunate because its a pretty alright song.

Mason Jar - Automatically I am turned off of this song, purely for the name of the song. I live in the south and I just don't like the mason jar aesthetic. Like I get it, but I don’t like it. I think this is a great song, but the title is just not it for me, especially because mason jars are mentioned once and never brought up again. I do however like the song writers ability to tell a story and the general plot that runs through the song which is enough to redeme it for me. Also it is so long, I thought it was over but I was only halfway through 

Over & Over - The only thing I have to say about this song is that the vibes for the song brought my dog into the room and that's is all.

Lovetap! - We love the name of the album also being a song title. I just say that the line “your blood is still so blind 20/20 don't come free to everybody” did not age well. Do I understand that it is about eyesight? Yes. But is that still something that resonated with my soul? Yes. I do really like the chorus of this song its catchy and is nice to listen to. 

What’s That a Picture Of? -  This is a total lets run away into the night song. It is fast paced with a nice bass line and some prominent drums. It also ovbious with the lyrics describing an encounter between two potential lovers meeting for the first time but one of them holding back on their true desires.

Dyin’ to Live - A FOMO pick me song. But also nostalgia and moving on from a toxic friendship. Its the way that I can almost too heavily relate to this song that is currently hurting me. This also gives me church camp that is also trying to appeal to non religious kids that are forced to go and I just can’t do that.

Admission to Your Party - The first few seconds of this song lead me down a Smallpools rabbit hole to check that whomever was singing was from America because all I am getting is European accent. This songs lyrics have me wondering if we like the person this is being directed at or not, because we want into the party but we also have a lot of words to say about what the party thrower is doing at that party.

9 to 5 - No. No. Absolutly not. I don’t like it. There is too much happening. This has a country and carrabian sound to it. It does not work. There is a good reason it is the shortest song. This is so heavily a skip and it by far my least favorite song of the year. Sorry Smallpools.

No Story Time - Lots of big words in the beginning of this song. Really packing a punch in the beginning to draw the listeners in. There is not much to say about this song other than I feel like some of the listeners might require a dictionary for listening to this song. Which is wildly juxtaposed with nearly the rest of the song.

(Submarine) - The song length to word ration is wild man. There are 15 words in the 3:17 minute song, which is awesome if you're into this. I, however am getting flashback to that part at the end of a souther baptist church service were you want to leave but the pastor has invited people to ‘accept to word’ and the band is trying to drag out this song to because so many people came up. I understand this in to universal but ifykyk.

[lets-pretend-i-exist]

The older I get, the more I realise how much of a banger the Lovetap! album is. It's truly a no-skip record. And the lyrics! Art! Poetry! Beauty itself!

"I called to say / can you live with my mistakes?"

"She was a concept / I was in love then"

"You've been running with the devil / swinging at your friends"

"She wrote a film about a double life she's living / she had a weak co-star in mind, I give in / mix up the clear with the coffee grinds / we're shooting all night"

"I'm not scared of being a lonely man / or even dying / just missing out"

"Pack all your morals up with your finest gown"

"All you said you wanted was some time alone to look over the Treaty of Versailles / all you really wanted was a 9 to 5"

"Fall from my head / through my subconsciousness / but I'm just a host / I'm just a conduit"

Oof, 17yo me did not appreciate this album as much as I could've. It's beautiful.

[onmusicandliterature]

would’ve fucked around and made a couple playlists but i want to scream bc ‘homework’

-!