Hello Whirled is the name that prolific New Jersey singer and songwriter Benjamin Spizuco prefers to be known by. You could probably call him a bunch of other stuff too, but I'm sure he'd prefer that you stuck with Hello Whirled if you're not on a first-name basis with him. Also, when I say he's prolific, I mean it! His 112th album dropped this past July and it's titled Hoping For A Little More...Pizzazz. Now, this is not going to be a full retrospective on his career, this review is only of his latest release. I'm sorry, if you were looking for a little more (Pizzazz?), but there is enough to unpack about Hoping For A Little More... without excavating his whole discography. As you might (correctly!) surmise, an indie rock artist with this many albums to his name is going to have some sonic overlap with Guided by Voices. These similarities are mostly confined to certain tendencies toward buzzy, lightly psychedelic soundscapes and a wavering, throaty and wayward pitch which Ben sometimes throws his vocals into. That's really where the similarities end, though. Ben has a tendency to write complete songs for one, and additionally, he's just as likely to sound like Craig Finn as Robert Pollard, ditto for Ty Segall or the Osees's John Dwyer. And that's just his vocal performances! His selection of styles in terms of his guitar playing is no less eclectic, rotating from '90s-esque acoustic power pop on "When Can I Admit I Miss You," to manic surf-gazy mellow moshers like "Holding Back The Water," to burning garage punk on "Nothing Changes," to post-baroque stomp-and-shout like "Ascend To Paradise," and finally surreal tent-revival cultism on "Ruins." The whole vibe is of a guy sitting under a tree or next to a campfire strumming his guitar and singing standards slightly out of tune, but how these tunes come out is nothing short of hair-pinning rockers. I don't know what I was hoping for headed into this record, all I know is that I am walking away with so much more than I expected.
