If naming a song “Live To Tell” is cheeky but good natured, naming another song on the same EP “Something” is just plain looking for trouble. But that is just what Herb Eimerman does on his fabulous Five Dimensional Man. Herb is the bassist and singer for The Britannicas, who gave us last years power pop album of the year, High Tea, and his latest EP is a worthy continuation of his beautifully arranged rock songs with melodic twists in its tail.
This time round Herb wrote, sang, and played everything except for the drumming by Stefan Johansson, the record was produced by Joe Algeri -or if you prefer, it is a White Album type of Britannica, concentrating on one musician. High Tea lovers should have no problems embracing Five Dimensional Man and while sharing a name with both George Harrison (and a little James Taylor) is a fool’s errand, Something” is a fine song and though that might sound like faint praise, just try “Live To Tell” for a deeply soulful pop track that more than survives the comparisons to the dissimilar Madonna’s song.
“Just Wishful Thinking” is a smart, drum heavy rocker that will get you out of your chair and when you settle back, check out “Believe That I Do” for the single loveliest song of the set; it sounds like the Byrds covering Beatles For Sale, with a clear and ringing production by Joe.
According to the press release “Herb released solo albums in ’90, ’92, The Nerk Twins project with Jeff Murphy of
Shoes in ’97and returned to his solo work with releases in ’02, ’04, and ’06.” which would make nine years between solo outings but it is worth the wait. “Sentimental In Berlin” has some of the proto-psychedelia vibe you might get from early Apples In Stereo and a haunting lyric “it takes a long time to be young…” is a hard to deny aphorism.
In taking the standard issue power pop and playing with different genres inside them, Herb does add a dimension to every song, it is like an added gift on the gifted recording.
Look for it August 28th, 2015.
Grade: A-
