The Second Disc welcomes back Ted Frank as he takes a sonic journey with one of his favorite albums so far of 2016, Brett Harris' Up in the Air!  It may not be a reissue, but Harris' spin on vintage pop sounds make this release a must-listen.

Listening to Brett Harris' newest album Up in the Air is an intimate experience.  The southern storyteller sings to the listener with a bit of a weathered whisper and appears seasoned beyond his years.    While the North Carolina-based singer-songwriter has toured with some of power-pop's greatest acts, he remains an artist that many have yet to hear.  Now, with the release of his new solo album Up in the Air, Harris is ready to take center stage...and stay there.  Up in the Air should make Harris the household name of indie rock (no, that's not a contradiction in terms!) he deserves to be.

The Hit the Deck/Redeye release celebrates, and builds on, the Memphis power-pop sound made famous by Big Star as well as the NC musical movement spearheaded by Mitch Easter and Chris Stamey.  This should come as no surprise as Harris served as an auxiliary guitarist-keyboardist for the historic 2012 reunion tour of power-pop progenitors The dB' s and recently toured with Big Star's Third (which includes regular members such as Big Star drummer Jody Stephens, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Easter of Let's Active and Stamey of The dB's), Up in the Air marks Harris' sophomore solo effort.  In 2010, Harris released his Americana-tinged, sophisti-pop debut album Man of Few Words to highly favorable reception amongst those lucky enough to hear it.   Just last year, Harris was invited by Stamey to cover Harry Nilsson's "Remember (Christmas)" on the most recent incarnation of The dB's & Friends' Christmas Time Again!, a 2015 Second Disc Favorite Reissue of the Year.   To put it simply, Up in the Air finds Harris reaching new heights aptly "up in the air."

From start to finish, Air is one of the best albums so far of 2016.  Track-to-track, it has the kind of variety and gravitas to showcase Harris as an intentional artist in tune with music's past as he blazes forth a familiar, yet distinctly unique, sound.  Imagine progressing from the tight sonic structures of a "Day Tripper" (see opening track "End of the Rope") to the stream of consciousness latter-day flow of the Lennon/McCartney-penned "Across the Universe" (see the superb second track, "Don't Look Back") within the sequencing of just two songs.

But Harris' influences are not limited to just pop.  In an album centering on the yin-and-yang themes of departure and renewal as well as love lost and love found, Up in the Air signals that Harris has the musicianship to embellish these complexities.   Take for instance the Tin Pan Alley-esque musical interludes embedded in the bridges of songs ("Lies"), the AM radio sound of "High Times", and the melancholic drift of "Summer Night."   It's Harris' penchant for lyric writing and his depth of knowledge that make him a true musician's musician, and sharpen an instrumentally eclectic album's focus and cohesion.

The penultimate track "Shade Tree" dramatically shifts in tone as Harris' world is one dominated by inversions until you end up "back where (you) started out."  And then, on a record filled with moderate-tempo rockers and self-reflexivity, it is the final track, "Spanish Moss" which appropriately grounds an album that earlier declared "Up in the air... I'll make my home wherever my feet hit the ground."  The ballad has Harris pining for "a light that will guide (him) home" and features the kind of lavish interlude-instrumentation that has not been heard since Balmorhea's 2009 album All is Wild, All is Silent. This song is light as a feather in the best possible way, which seems appropriate since a colloquialism for Spanish Moss is "air plant."  By album's end, this conflicted and complex troubadour may certainly long to "steal away," but he expresses it with a deep musical and lyrical confidence that keeps his feet planted firmly on the ground.

Up in the Air is an exceptional listen from a pop tunesmith at the height of his powers. As an album, it hints at the shadings of forebears The Beatles, Big Star, and power-pop legends Dwight Twilley and Van Duren, but it also presents an artist who falls somewhere in the realm of newer artists like The Tallest Man on Earth, Sondre Lerche, and Kurt Vile.  Carrying on in the footsteps of North Carolina's rich power-pop legacy, Brett Harris is not only a music scholar, he's one of pop's strongest young songwriters and practitioners.  As he indicates in "End of the Rope," there's a "difference" between what one takes and leaves behind.  Harris is taking pop music's rich past and ready to leave behind a bright future for the next generation.  Highest Recommendation!

Something Old, Something New (for further listening - an influence of old, a similar musician of today): For the Big Star fan, be sure to check out HoZac Records' 2016 reissue of Prix's cult classic album Historix plus four bonus tracks recorded 1975-76 at Ardent Studios, Memphis (featuring Chris Bell and Alex Chilton).  For a more contemporary listen, there's Nap Eyes' new sophomore release, Thought Rock Fish Scale.  Imagine Lou Reed fronting Yo La Tengo...it's that sublime!

Check out Up in the Air at Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada!