Picture this: A pair of glossy, candy-red cherries hang skewered on a giant chrome fishing hook, juice dripping while chains curl through the black background like something’s been dragged across a dive-bar floor. Everything’s shiny and over-the-top, sleazy pin-up sweetness. The album art (courtesy of Nat Brower, who also drums on several tracks) of Hooked, the new LP from Josephine Network (out now on Lolipop), signals ’80s hard glam rock.
Press play and it turns out it kinda sounds like that too. Well, a little more polished and much sweeter than true hard rock, but opener Rock & Roll Singer arrives with cool riffs, cowbell, and catchy hooks courtesy of an artist very much in control. Next up is the title track, and a couple of moments in, you get the central idea behind this record: provide a rockin’ good time. I’m Hooked on Nobody Else But You is the kind of earworm you willingly invite into your ear canal. Then comes a pair of power pop hits: the yearning All I’ll Do leans ’70s, while Mary Jane Girls has more of a punky vibe. The middle portion offers some glam excellence with Silver Highway Song riding high pitched vocals, while the latter half delivers glam stompers like Kiss of the T and the infectious Revved Up. Things wrap up with an old-timey rocker called The Rockers.
Damn, there sure are a lot of hits on this thing!
I can’t help but notice how perfectly this record complements the recent Music City LP and the brand new Daniel Romano’s Outfit album. All three have echoes of rock ‘n’ roll’s giants, and they all come with the warm glow of a ’70s AM radio station (I assume, because I wasn’t born yet). But whereas Conor Lumsden arrives more from a power pop and pub rock upbringing, and Romano from a mix of classic rock and proto-punk, Josephine Network takes the glam and the bubblegum corner. These are good times if you’re a rock ‘n’ roller.
True to its title, Josephine Network wrote a record full of songs designed to make you stay. Well, I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving!