Cheap Time :: I’d Rather Be Alone

Some people didn’t know what to make of Cheap Time‘s self-titled debut album when it was released in 2008. It came as a huge leap from their first 7″ of the year before, and it didn’t really sound like anything else going at that time. Too glamtastic and bubblegum for the garage purists and too raw for indie rockers.

Their new album, entitled Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations), proves to take the band to further artistic leaps. Coming two years after the debut, these new songs show the band moving in an interesting direction. Soaking up their influences and spitting out new songs with
more complex structures and melodies than guitarist/songwriter Jeffrey Novak has ever shown before. While bassist Stephen Braren adds another element to the songs with his heavily compressed Roy Wood style playing. Plus the addition of new drummer Ryan Sweeney tightens up the bands sound while still keeping things very loose.

The sessions for this album have also become something of legend, when tracking for the album ended abruptly after engineer Mike McHugh suffered a breakdown and kicked the band out of the studio by gun point before they were able to mix anything. Once the tapes were retrieved over a month later, Earle Mankey (Producer of the Quick’s Mondo Deco, and The Runaways’ Queens of Noise ex-Sparks member) was brought in to mix the final album, which turned out to be a perfect match!

Anyone who saw Cheap Time on tour last year opening for Yo La Tengo will be pleased with the way all of these new songs have turned out on record. Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations) will surely surprise, divide, and leave fans scratching their heads as to where Cheap Time will go next!