The latest addition to the It Takes Time Records family, Ronnie Rogers is the project of Aaron O’Neill (also of Shady Bug). The second Ronnie Rogers album in less than 12 months, Denim Jacket Weather sees O’Neill get some help from Hannah Rainey, Reid Maynard and Josiah Joyce.
The band fearlessly set out in the vast landscape of indie rock, foraging for ingredients in bedroom pop, Pavement-style slacker rock and fuzzy lo-fi, even straying into the realms of country when the feeling takes them. All that makes for an interesting and nourishing meal, at times laid-back and others energetic, smooth jams followed by chugging rockers.
Take opener ‘Leaning On’, a lazy slice of crunchy indie rock that draws heavily on Stephen Malkmus vibes before swinging into a softly infectious cooed chorus, O’Neill joined by Rainey and Maynard for the perfectly simple lines “ooh leaning on, leaning on yeah.” It’s a really good early example of how O’Neill uses the Ronnie Rogers project to curate a love letter to indie rock’s greatest hits.
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In comparison, ‘Bummer’ feels more focused, built on a bed of subtle pop punk guitar, O’Neill’s weightless vocals floating around this central tether and giving the song an almost surreal, psych-tinged feel. Beginning with gentle acoustics, ‘Mantra’ soon develops into a restrained rock song, while ‘Carol’ growls and grumbles in a sub two minute burst a la LVL Up, and ‘So Bright’ draws on shoegaze with its honey-soft vocals and heart-fluttering chorus.
‘Staying Alive’ is another song that strongly recalls Silver Jews, O’Neill’s mumbled vocals tumbling out beneath lo-fi guitar that feels strangely close to that from a sincere Americana track, country rock from another dimension where chunky, fuzzed out rock is the music of pickup trucks and lonely plains.
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“I don’t drink milk with tea,” O’Neill sings on closer ‘Yankee’, “I’m a Yankee boy now and I traded brill for catfish, you can’t set sail in the Midwest.” Sprightly indie pop that brings to mind the likes of Slaughter Beach Dog, it’s a song that proves that Ronnie Rogers will continue to shapeshift until the very end, making Denim Jacket Weather a varied and engrossing listen from start to finish.
Denim Jacket Weather is out now on cassette via It Takes Time Records and name-your-price download from the Ronnie Rogers Bandcamp page.
