Spectreview: Coach Phillips – Never is Enough

-DEEP PINK-

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“You spiral into me
Leave me no place to land”

Never is Enough, the debut LP from Coach Phillips, comes just in time for the longest days of the year, free summer days rife with heat and gentle interpersonal tension. There’s more than enough comparisons to burgeoning indie acts like Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, but the Seattle indie-rock quintet adds touches of weathered alt-country (“Tailspins”), garage rock (“Summer in Seattle”) and classic proto-emo (“Conversation with Pietro”) to sweeten the pot. The band sounds great here, guitars tuned and strummed perfectly, Wade Phillips’ and Jessica Kim’s vocals intertwining at an ideal resonance, Chet Baughman’s drums light and steady. It’s an album of simple pleasures, all easy pop melodies, static vocal lines and lyrics that aim for the heart and the hippocampus, with a bucolic air that’s alternately sunlit and autumnal. Absolutely worth a listen.

Recommended for the poolside and the passenger side.