Both record label and fans agree, Burnside Project is Bar/None’s best kept secret…well, that is until now. Self-produced by the band and mixed by Paul Mahajan (TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The National), the New York City trio’s new album, The Finest Example Is You, goes straight for the pop jugular. Of course, they’ve got their own ideas on what a pop song should be. Expanding on the blend of electronics and live instrumentation of their debut, The Networks, the Circuits, the Streams the Harmonies, the guitars have been turned up. Their signature skittering, IDM-inspired rhythms have been streamlined into more danceable, four-on-the-floor beats, complimented by dense textures of synthesizer and organ. Richard Jankovich’s vocal melodies are upfront, deliberate and immediately catchy, and often complimented by Mendoza Line’s Shannon McArdle, who returns to add her beautifully bittersweet harmonies to the mix.
These changes are a reflection of Burnside’s evolution from one person’s solo recording project into a full-fledged band. A few years after moving to NYC, in 1999, Jankovich acquired a small, digital studio in Hoboken, NJ, and began exploring electronic music. A recovering indie rocker, the Milwaukee native connected his new and old music interests, embellishing his guitar-based songwriting with bleeps, odd samples, and rhythm loops. Jankovich also found a kindred spirit in multi-instrumentalist Gerald Hammill, and invited him to be the first proper member of Burnside.
Bar/None took interest in their demos and in 2003, released The Networks, the duo’s first full-length together. Burnside Project quickly added Paul Searing to its line-up and began playing out regularly around NYC and the Northeast. Meanwhile, The Networks charted on college radio stations across the country (including heavy rotation on Seattle’s KEXP), and received high praise in music blogs like Stereogum and Music.for-Robots, as well as mainstream publications, earning an A- in SPIN and placement on Rolling Stone’s “Hot List.†The album’s signature track, “Cue the Pulse to Begin,†became a hot commodity of sorts, bringing the band licensing deals via a major motion picture (The Medallion) and a theme song to Showtime’s Queer as Folk. The song would also become a top 40 hit on Japanese radio, and in March of 2004, Burnside Project flew to the Island Nation for a promotional tour, which triumphantly concluded with a sold out show at Tokyo’s Astro Hall.
Following their return to the States, the band spent the next year-and-a-half experimenting in their studio with new sounds and ideas. Jankovich became quite adept as an engineer and producer, while Hammill and Searing became integral to Burnside’s songwriting process, fully contributing to the melodies and arrangements. As a result, The Finest Example Is You is a very diverse offering. Songs like “Get Better Soon†and the sweet melancholy of “Cynical Weathers†are hook-filled slices of electro-pop, while “Just Drop Off†and the propulsive dance punk of “One to One†show off the band’s rockier side. Meanwhile, the orchestrated, slow-building “Another Way†and the psychedelic-tinged “What’s Said Was Spoken†are the group’s most ambitious offerings to date. All at once adventurous, cerebral and catchy, The Finest Example Is You is truly Burnside Project’s shining moment.
