the black watch has pressing concerns

 By Henry Lipput

Deciding to wait until their new album, future strangers, was available on vinyl (sometime in early 2023) before releasing it on any format, the LA-based indie guitar pop band the black watch has treated us to a digital EP that includes “the neverland of spoken things,” a song to be included on the album, as well as two non-album tracks (ATOM Records).

John Andrew Fredrick and company (including this time around the backing vocals of the wonderful Lindsay Murray of Gretchen’s Wheel) are again plugged in and ready to bring on the fuzz and the crunch to the melodies.

“the neverland of spoken things” is a perfect example of the band’s dreampop sound. There’s a cool “Penny Lane”-style horn and Murray makes an appearance that’s more than a support role but instead a partner to Fredrick’s lead vocal.

The other two tracks, “precious little” and “living backwards.” aren’t demos or outtakes but fully formed songs that just didn’t make it onto the album. You can think of them as bonus tracks as well as yet another example of the creative geyser that is John Andrew Fredrick, allowing the band to release an album a year between 2019 and 2021 (actually there were two full-length albums in 2020).

On “precious” the guitars are upfront in the mix and the drums drive the song along; it ends with some terrific lead guitar work by Bernard Yin. “living backwards” is the kind of melodic gem for which Fredrick is known and he joins Yin by taking turns on the lead. Both songs would find pride of place on an album by any other indie guitar pop band.