For McDermott & North remembering a past where it was believed that one song could change thousands of lives is a duty. “The Hollywood EP” is more than a love affair with retro sounds, but a desire to soak up the essence of the Golden Age of Recorded Music.
“Pearly Whites” is McCartneyesque ditty that paints the picture of wholesome 1930s dancehalls. The EP opener does a good job of presenting the duo’s strengths. First and foremost, both possess great singing voices that work well as the lead element or as part of well-crafted harmonies.
Such control and the ability to blend the two vocals is not a gift but rather the fruit of experience. The duo of McDermott & North claim to have brought their music to the masses for years through the form of busking, and it shows.
The 1960s pop-rock boom didn’t merely create stars knowledgeable of the best angle for their press photos. It also established some of the greatest songwriters of all time. The latter is what McDermott & North are shooting for, as can be heard in “Just Let Your Love Shine Down,” in which the gorgeous vocal melodies of the verse are accompanied by the tenderest of harmonies.
“Mary St” shows that there’s more than simple studio trickery that helps creates the duo’s sound. The recording feels almost as if it was captured with the dup singing on the street, encircled by people doing their best not to intrude.
Finally, “I Love Your Way” helps dispel any idea of this being a cynical exercise in nostalgia-powered success. Nearly sharing the title with Peter Frampton’s most famous composition and also communicating its hopes of love and understanding in the same optimistic vein, “I Love Your Way” is what pop music could’ve been had the world kept up the same hopes that it collectively shared in back in the 1960s.
McDermott & North is not out for a retro sound but for a classic one. Here’s a group that still believes in the old-timely ideas of writing songs on acoustic guitars, being able to sing them on key, and giving the world a little hope with the song’s lyrics. Now, what’s so wrong with peace, love, and understanding?
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