Graham Reid | | <1 min read
About Time
San Francisco's Kelley Stoltz disappeared off our radar after his To Dreamers album although we've name-checked him a few times since.
A man who can craft sublime if sometimes referential jangle pop, rock and power pop, here he gets in a more fuzzy, psyched up and anxious mood for a dozen songs which have all those references mentioned but are agitated, which coincidentally is name of the label he's on.
There are furious races to the finish here (Switch On Switch Off is like Wreckless Eric hitched to a powered up glam band) which suggests some desperation on the home front.
But then there's something as familiar and thrown-off as the Byrdsian jangle of the clattering Reni's Car about driving the Happy Monday man's car around contemporary Manchester while Reni holidays in Greece.
He stretches in a version of the Church's dream pop – but with more nerviness on Awake in a Dream – and also delivers sheer loveliness as on About Time which brings to mind a little of Kurt Vile.
A dozen albums into a solo career, Kelley Stoltz is one of those artists who you either hear and get or someone who just goes straight past you because he has no particular profile.
Never too late to get a hook in him, although he'll be the one to reel you in.
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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here
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