This year Say Hi (formerly Say Hi to Your Mom or S.H.T.Y.M.), released (what I believe to be) their fifth album, entitled The Wishes and the Glitch. Clocking in at a hair under 40 minutes, Wishes is a quick, tight album. It doesn’t blow anything out of the water with creativity or style, but it is a nice collection of songs with some good variety and a solid effort. The songs, in many places, have a real familiar quality to them, whether it’s some ethereal connection to indy pop bands of the last 5 or 8 years or just the fact that they aren’t breaking down any sonic walls, I can’t really place, but they have a nice, comfortable sound that won’t shock the casual listener’s sensability. Upon deeper listens, they reveal surprising depth and variety track to track, and even show variety in the vocal performance – a variety which other bands don’t seem to generally achieve on records. Hit the jump for the full review.

Wishes kicks off with Northwestern Girls, an ambitiously rolling track with epic vocals and music, which actually does what it seeks to do pretty well. It stands in a little bit of contrast to the rest of the album as generally, Wishes has a more even groove than seen on Northwestern Girls, and they get right to that on the second track, Shakes her Shoulders. The groove continues on Oboes Bleat and Trinagles Tink and Magic Beans and Truth Machines, as both songs have simple guitar and perfectly understated keyboard side melody.

The vocals are varied on this record and keep things fairly interesting. On Toil and Trouble, the backing vocals provide the signature and hook fo the song. The lyrics are fairly amusing and sharp throughout, as on Back Before We Were Brittle which does a good job of evoking childhood with its lyrics and the upbeat music which it accompanies. I really liked the line in Oboes Bleat and Triangles Tink where he sings, “Silly girl, we can’t just stop. But we can do something else if you want.”

Say Hi does vary their sound on this album well enough as I already mentioned with Northwestern Girls, and they evoke their inner Postal Service with Bluetime. Some songs are a bit of a miss, as with Spiders but more so on Apples for the Innocent, which both songs are a little odd and don’t really go anywhere; they both have a repeated, mildly to mega irritating refrain (mega irritating being Apples). I appreciate the variety in the sound that Apples creates and it definitely is a little more experimental sound for these guys from the happy pop they ooze for the rest of the album, but I think Say Hi should stick to what they do well on the rest of the album – happy and catchy pop. Another mild complaint could be that some songs’ lyrics/music are overly simplistic like on Zero to Love where he sings “This new heart of mine, goes from zero to love in no time.” Meh. That doesn’t make these songs bad songs, they just miss a little on the lyrics.

The album closes with the excellent We Lost the Albatross which is so different from Apples for the Innocent that it almost makes me able to shrug off the irritatingness of Apples. But Apples tends to stick with me. Anywho, this album is overall a pretty solid listen and I would definitely be interested in checking these guys out live; their music seems like it would translate really well, and since they have been on the road essentially since May, 2002, I’m sure it’s solid stuff.

Daigle Rate: 76

Say Hi – Northwestern Girls – The Wishes and the Glitch
Say Hi – We Lost the Albatross – The Wishes and the Glitch

Upcoming tourdates are as follows:

09-27-08 @ Big Orbit’s Soundlab — Buffalo, NY
09-28-08 @ Brandeis University (Usen Castle) — Waltham, MA
09-30-08 @ Middle East Upstairs — Cambridge, MA
10-01-08 @ Heirloom Arts Theatre — Danbury, CT
10-02-08 @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg — Brooklyn, NY
10-03-08 @ Johnny Brenda’s — Philadeplphia, PA
10-04-08 @ Black Cat — Washington, DC
10-06-08 @ Local 506 — Chapel Hill, NC
10-07-08 @ Milestone — Charlotte, NC
10-08-08 @ The Drunken Unicorn — Atlanta, GA
10-09-08 @ Bottle Tree Cafe — Birmingham, AL
10-10-08 @ Spanish Moon — Baton Rouge, LA
10-11-08 @ The Mohawk — Austin, TX; All Ages
10-12-08 @ Hailey’s — Denton, TX; All Ages
10-13-08 @ The Opolis — Norman, OK; All Ages
10-14-08 @ College Of Santa Fe — Santa Fe, NM
10-15-08 @ The Rhythm Room — Phoenix, AZ
10-16-08 @ UC San Diego (The Loft) — San Diego, CA
10-17-08 @ The Echo — Los Angeles, CA
10-18-08 @ Bottom Of The Hill — San Francisco, CA
10-24-08 @ The Vera Project — Seattle, WA