Good Photography [CD]

Good Photography is the debut LP from Philadelphia indie rockers Mechanical Canine, and the only release featuring the band's founding lineup. With an emphasis on warbled, washy guitars, their debut is a headier, moodier listen than its follow up, Walls Covered in Mildew. While the group’s pop punk sensibilities shine through on tracks such as “Stuck” and “The Most Important Thing in The World”, the overall tone of the album owes an equal debt to classic psychedelia. Thematically, Good Photography explores the contrast between youthful confidence and the growing apprehensions of adulthood. Opening with the slow burning “The Deacon”, singer and primary songwriter James Walsh examines the appeal of “being right all the time”, and offers a vision of a better future as younger, more forward thinking generations take control. Yet by the melancholy closer “Have Some”, Walsh dismisses that vision of benevolent change as “just a stupid fucked up joke”. Written and recorded as the band turned the corner from adolescence into adulthood, Good Photography captures the arrogance of youth as it decays into a broader sense of openness and empathy.