Words by Gabe Durham//Illustration by JT Tapia
Austinites sure think highly of their music scene. Or, rather, Austinites sure think highly of Austin. With a city that smug, your first inclination is to shoot it down. Just make sure you do it from a distance, or you’ll get sucked in. Spend a few days amongst the independent music venues, bands, theatres, restaurants and coffee shops, and you’ll forget you aren’t in the northwest. It’s a beacon of cool in the Texan wasteland.

I submit to you another reason to pay attention to Austin—The Lovely Sparrows. Sparrows frontman Shawn Jones has collected five endearing indie folk tunes in Pulling Up Floors, Pouring On (New) Paint, an EP that doesn’t demand your attention, it asks politely.

The first thing I noticed about this album was its irresponsible use of parentheses in the title. Pouring on (new) paint, guys? Sure you’re not just pouring on new paint? The criticism may just be my own sensitivity. I’m still recovering from the fallout of turn of the century hits like “(You Drive Me) Crazy,” “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart),” and “(God Must Have Spent) a Little More Time on You.”

From the moment the music began, things (definitely) improved. As the use of “Lovely” in the band’s name implies, there’s not much ego on this album—just warm, intimate tunes with the subtle lyrics to back them up. “This is not the song you begged me to write,” Jones sings in the introductory break-up tune, “Chemicals Change”. “Can I revise a statement I may have made?” Jones asks his lover. “Can I pull up floors? Can I pour on new paint? / Can I lay down tonight and just forget your face?”

Not yet, it seems. This kind of exorcism takes at least five songs, all of which are held together by Jones’ restrained voice. Jones comes from the same vocal family as James Mercer, circa Oh, Inverted World. There’s a friendly accessibility to the singing, if not enough of a focus on enunciation.

The vocal emphasis and excellent mix nearly make up for the lack of fancy recording equipment. While the drums tend to fall flat, there’s always a delicate blend of acoustic guitar and piano to keep things together, as well as flute, accordion, mandolin, and Lauryn Steinberg’s sweet harmonies.

What really makes the disc work is the intentional continuity of these five songs. I scrounged up a couple of Sparrows tracks from other releases, and thought, “These aren’t bad, but they don’t fit with the Pulling Up Floors songs.” This is one of those delightful cases where the album is greater than the sum of its parts. The Sparrows make a good argument for EPs in general: When you’ve only got five songs, a cohesive record isn’t as hard to come by.

“Attention Disorder Kid” is the disc’s centerpiece, an oddball anthem. “All things not cool, come round, come round,” Jones beckons, “You’ll hear them say, Settle down, settle down, settle down.” When Jones breaks into the simple chorus, “Attention disorder kid, they want to replace you with robots,” he’s not just decrying Ritalin prescriptions, he’s putting up a defense against anything—prescription drugs, a girlfriend’s bland music—that would threaten his individuality. In a city where individuality is the norm, where “all things not cool” is the definition of cool, the Lovely Sparrows should feel at home.

The Lovely Sparrows
Abandoned Love Records