Whereas Santa Barbara-based band DUPLEX's eponymously-titled first release was primarily a solo vehicle for singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Sparks, Hot Looks For Summer is the work of a full-fledged band, including material written and sung by bassist Jason Bays and outstanding, intricate guitar lines courtesy of lead guitarist/songwriter Rob Taylor. Drumming duties are provided once again by the prodigious Randy Guss.

Hot Looks opens with "Agent of Deliverance," a Sparks tune that conjures Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard channeling Pete Townsend in a melancholy mood; and ends with "Helen Douglas," Bays' stream-of-consciousness tribute to the woman who ran against Richard Nixon in his 1950 bid for the Senate. In between, lyrically, the songs deal with everything from betrayal ("Rope") to celebrity suicide ("Suicide Moon"), to post-breakup yard sales ("On the Lawn").



Agent Of Deliverance 3.8 mb

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