The Belltowers

Day Breakaway

TSB Records

Brian Guthrie's Twenty Stone Blatt label has had a Spring-like flowering of activity recently. It includes a lavish, but ultimately disappointing, new disc from Tav Falco and the Panther Burns, his first five years, and a new project from Primevals frontman Michael Rooney that teams him vocally with Celina Ozymandias and rhythmically with original Primes drummer Rhod Burnett on Conjure Time by the Hi-Alerts. Best of the bunch, though, is this debut by The Belltowers from Orlando, Florida, whose best known member is Paul Mutchler, a member of highly-rated garage rock combo The Lears back in the last decade of the last century.

But what is best about The Belltowers, and amply illustrated here following a number of EPs, is that Mutchler does not seek the limelight with this Byrds-inspired songsmithery. Like our own Teenage Fanclub, whom they often resemble and with whom they clearly share a number of influences, there are multiple songwriters at work here with guitarist Eddie Foeller and bassist Marshall Huggins having a large share of the credits, and drummer Tim Miller sneaking one in on the excellent Time Will Tell, a highlight of a 12-track set constructed exactly as those old-fashioned Long Players once were, with the catchy title track kicking off "side two".

Keith Bruce