Suburban HiFi comes in under the wire in 2021

 By Henry Lipput

Suburban HiFi is the nom de pop groupe of Greg Addington, one third of the much-loved, Michigan-based pop group The Hangabouts. Not a lot has been heard from The Hangabouts since the Futureman Records tribute album Action Now: 20/20 Reimagined released in, er, 2020.

Suburban HiFi’s album Superimposition (Bandcamp) was released at the end of last year, a time when many year-end lists were, if not posted somewhere, already decided (but not mine; I’m usually late in posting for any number of reasons and/or excuses and this year is no different). 

So how do you find out about a late-in-the-year release?  It helps to know someone (and I’m not talking about myself). The host of Indie Pop Takeout (Saturday mornings at 8 am EST on Neighborhood Weekly Radio on your Twitter or computer dial) knew me to be a fan of The Hangabouts and having reviewed their 2017 album Kits & Cats and Saxon Wives (a “very fine new album”) and the 2019 single “Who Wants Cilla?’ b/w “Mrs. Greene” (“Cilla” was “a marvelous power pop tune).

Addington brings The Hangabouts’ DNA to Suburban HiFi in a number of ways in both vocals and arrangements. Superimposition is a splendid collection of three-minute pop songs and it doesn’t hurt that he had his Hangabouts bandmates John Lowry and Chip Saam contributing to the writing of a few songs.

“In Her Reverie” is a working woman in a office story, not unlike Paul McCartney’s “Another Day” and The Pearlfisher’s “Love & Other Hopeless Things:” She's late for the bus and "her raincoat moves like a cape as she runs." In the office: "She laughs with the crowd and blends in/The cubicle walls her fortress against the world.” “The Space Between Us” is a double-decker of a listen with the sound of The Hangabouts on top and bass line and vocal phrasing from Squeeze (“Someone Else’s Heart” perhaps?) underneath. 

Written with Sara Addington, “Beamed In” is a wonderful pop tune with backing vocals that recall prime Hangabouts and lyrics about a woman who may be the love interest in “Sparky’s Dream” come back to earth: “Way out beyond the furthest light you’ve ever seen/She appeared with her hair like the milky way/Wide-eyed and prettier than Saturn’s many rings,” “She looks like she was just beamed in/A space girl who’s tired of dreaming.”

With its charming acoustic vibe and gorgeous backing chorus, “Asymmetrical Hair” is much too short. “January Book” is another lovely song about the time spent with a someone special as the year begins; I particularly like this couplet: “You’re the sky among the stars/Lightning in a jar.”