This is what all of the hoopla is about

 By Henry Lipput

HOOPLA, the new album by SUPER 8 (The Beautiful Music/Bandcamp), is a cornucopia of musical delights. Written and performed by the super-talented one-man band Paul Ryan, also known as Trip, he’s been releasing high-quality tuneage since 2018 (including the amazing hat trick of three albums of all new material that year).

The new album not only continues his streak of presenting technicolor melodies (the title of his first 2018 album) but the time he’s spent since then, tinkering in his shed, has given his songs more textures, sounds, and arrangements. You can hear this all over the new album. The song “Our Town” starts in skiffle mode but when it begins to rock about halfway through you’d be mistaken if you thought there was full band hitting its stride in his backyard hideaway.

You can also hear it on “Jennifer Anne,” one of my favorite songs on the album. I’m not sure if I’m correct in calling this recording a suite but in a little over three minutes it has at least three different melodies, arrangements, and lyrics looking at the woman in the song in three different ways (and that’s not including a bridge).

The Fabs influence makes a few appearances on HOOPLA. Trip channels his inner George Martin on the opening track “For My Friends,” a salute to the folks who have supported his work over the years. “All My Worries” has a very solo Lennon vibe and there’s a lovely “Dear Prudence”-like acoustic guitar lick in there as well. Trip then plays a bouncy Macca sounding piano for “Out of My Head.”

I realize I’m not the first one to bring up the way The Beatles have made their mark on the music of SUPER 8 but I also want to point out they’re not the only band or solo artist that have become part of his musical grab bag. Over the last five years he’s recorded covers by, among others, BMX Bandits, Neil Diamond, The Replacements, The Beach Boys, Shack, and My Bloody Valentine.

And although he hasn’t covered a song from the XTC catalog, on HOOPLA he has built on a fragment of a song by Andy Partridge. In completing the track he’s created a Dukes of Stratosphere-worthy slice of psychedelic pop.