Following on the heels of 2013’s “Sunshine Radiation”, “Silvertron” is Anthony Mudrick’s second single for Portland’s Ten Dollar Recording Company, a little slice of Cascadian sunshine peeking its way through the long, grey raincloud that’s currently in the process of slacking off as we head full-on into Spring 2014. A little ditty of a ditty, “Silvertron” jingles, jangles, and ambles its way down the back-alleys of Mudrick’s hometown, lauding the forested hills, open fields, and postcard-worthy lanes of Silverton, Oregon in an ode to home base that might well make the city council proud. Taking a cue from “Sunshine Radiation”, this one toes the line both musically and stylistically, coming off with both tranquil humor and organic bent.

Fairly straightforward compositionally, “Silvertron” is a standard folk tune set to strummed acoustic guitar, hazily setting the musical course under Mudrick’s vocal lines. Bringing it all back home is accompaniment from Mudrick’s brother Thomas (of joint project The Blacklights, as well as long in the tooth on his own excellent and varied TDRCO releases) accompanied by the Ten Dollar Recording Company in-house band, made up of Ryan Michael Block and Mariya May. Though the song itself is deceptively simple, adding layers and texture is what this type of stuff is all about, and “Silvertron” really comes alive once the whole team is afloat; by track’s end the melody line and Mudrick’s listlessly tongue-in-cheek lyricisms will no doubt be thumbtacked to your earholes. As the track cartwheels through lines about GPS satellite technology, biker gang leaders of some repute, TNT, and just walking around, the song’s musical mainline strolls through groves of cotton candy floss and freaky-folky head cobwebs, sort of like a Sunday afternoon drive all hepped up on black coffee and industrial-grade edibles. Christmas lights in July and beach towels in January; “Silvertron” is deliberately a bit kooky but in that good way, and it’s hummable enough to warrant some repeat listens.

As with “Sunshine Radiation”, Mudrick is again digging deep into the day-trip remnants of those omnipresent countercultural tracers, the crevices where the high tide of the 1960’s left its mark, following Hunter Thompson’s typewritten spiel cranked out between ether black-outs in the 70’s. With “Silvertron”, Mudrick leisurely conjures the lava lamp undulations and eerie psych-folk sounds of 1960’s London or San Fran, trotting out the ghost of Syd Barrett for yet another dance in the pale moonlight. To be real, “Silvertron” plays heavy on the early psych-folk spectrum, bringing along for mixed company elements of the Paisley Underground 80’s, trash-pop 90’s, and freak folk 00’s, but arriving at what is (now) a timeless, immediately recognizable idiom. With its three chord jangle, ephemeral lyrics, and general sky-gazing hue, “Silvertron” may be transitory but the path is kept well-trod.

One wonders if with all this single action of late, if Mudrick may have a full-length in the wings; only time will tell. Ears will be peeled to TDRCO in the meantime, so get in on that action and take a listen while you’re putting your Spring gardens in, kids. (REED BURNAM, March 28, 2014)

Release Date: March 20, 2014

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