What You Don't Know, Find Out

I can't believe it's been twenty years, but there ya go. I was listening today to the Katydids' self-titled debut album. Produced by the original Jesus of Cool, Nick Lowe (1989, man...I still can't get over it), it's chock full of jangly pop goodness. It won't blow you away with originality or powerful, emotional lyrics, but it's a very pleasant and catchy album. It's light, breezy and sounds good turned up on a sunny, spring day.

One of my favorite songs on the album, Lights Out (Read My Lips), finds vocalist Susie Hug being playful and coy, egging her partner on. She tells him he "can have a chapter in the middle of the night", and encourages him to "read more, read on". It's kinda cute and has a high sing-a-long factor. They released said song as a single, as well, and included an acoustic version as one of the b-sides. The b-side is pretty straight ahead, and is practically the same as the original, sans drums. They released one album, Shangri-La (produced by Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds), after this one and broke up after they were dropped by their label. You can probably find this album in the used bins for a fiver or less, it'd be worth a pickup.

Katydids > Lights Out (Read My Lips)