Seeking Love

iTunes Review

With their second studio album Seeking Love, Oakland’s Bare Wires expand on the better moments of 2010’s Artificial Clouds to birth 10 catchy scene-punk songs trimmed in the trappings of ‘70s power-pop bands like the Toms and the Real Kids’ knack for pumping ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll through an early-‘80s punk filter. Though they lost a treasure in drummer Erin Emslie, Nathan Price proves to be an apt meat-and-potatoes percussionist with near-metronomic time as well as some tasty fills and flourishes. But the opening cut also finds frontman/guitar player Matthew Melton strategically incorporating heaps of vintage surf/garage tones. It works both in sonicity and in calculation; not only do songs like the lo-fi bubblegum flavored “I Love You Tonite” and the strutting “Family Heat” sound more steeped in classic California tones, but the noticeable shift in sound caught the ear of scene-maker John Dwyer who signed the band to his Castle Face Records, home to his own Thee Oh Sees and the Fresh & Onlys.