On The Pernice Brothers’ last album, 2006’s Live A Little, all signs pointed towards Joe Pernice – a man whose predilection for melancholia is such that he wrote a novel about how much The Smiths’ Meat is Murder had affected him – being in a lighter, more upbeat mood. This time round the jangly guitars on ‘Bechamel’, the opening track of Goodbye, Killer might fool you into thinking that the past four years had continued to be sunny for him, especially as lively second track ‘Jacqueline Susann’ follows it in rocking good form.
But no, from there on, it’s a return to the downhearted stylings that marked his time with The Scud Mountain Boys and his older solo work. This is no bad thing, with ‘The Great Depression’ and ‘Newport News’ being instantly likeable in spite of their melancholia. The album’s stand-out track ‘We Love The Stage’ details the difficulties of life on the road. “My boy thinks I’m his Uncle,” Pernice complains, against a backdrop that owes as much to show tunes as to his much loved country music.
Goodbye, Killer is an album that demonstrates The Pernice Brothers’ ability to craft a good no-frills tune. With its clever lyrics covering trademark themes such as love gone awry, and melodic hummability, the album, may not be a out and out killer, but it’s close.