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  Say Hi To Your Mom - These Fangs
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It's unclear whether or not Say Hi To Your Mom's Eric Elbogen had the term 'concept album' in mind when he was writing his fourth record under the Say Hi moniker. Nevertheless, the liner notes for the record read: "Impeccable Blahs is a record about vampires. Not creepy, goth vampires but rather people just like you and me who happen to get their nourishment from drinking blood," so one must assume something of the sort. What is clear is that, from the get go, Blahs is Elbogen's most vibrant work to date, which you could argue is the result of the full time additions of drummer Chris Egan III (The World Without Magic) and keyboardist Jeff Sheinkopf (Sea Ray, Longwave), who have been part of the singer / multi-instrumentalist's touring band since early 2005. And while the intimacy of the other records (2005's Ferocious Mopes, 2004's Numbers & Mumbles and 2002's Discosadness) is far from gone, the new batch of songs finds the band expanding its palette with dynamics that weren’t before present: the droning, brooding psychedelics of "She Just Happens To Date The Prince Of Darkness," the jittery synth freakouts of "Angels and Darlas," the 70's riff rock of "These Fangs." But despite the occasional extended instrument passage, Impeccable Blahs is very much a collection of pop songs, ones that draw from and expand on all of the elements that have made the Say Hi catalog such a loveable asset to indie rock fans.
While at first glance it might be easy to accuse Elbogen's songwriting of lacking of a certain emotional depth, simply because he so often sings about sci-fi themes and writes in the cheekiest of tones, one could here just as easily argue that not only is the vampire the most tragic, expressive and curious creature to be found in folklore, but that it doesn't actually take much to find the inherent poignancy hidden just beneath the surface of every Say Hi song.

Much has happened for Say Hi To Your Mom since last June's release of Ferocious Mopes. The band's busy touring schedule has included a full tour's stint as main support for indie pop darlings Nada Surf and shows with the likes of American Analog Set, Mates of State, The Wrens, John Vanderslice, Headphones and Calla. Last August Say Hi was added to the roster of the prestigious Kork Agency, and the band has started to sell out headlining shows in many markets. Various songs have been featured on MTV and CBS, among other television outlets. Oh yeah, and there's also the fact that Elbogen has soundscanned almost ten thousand combined copies of his first three records without help from a label. The songwriter started his own label, Euphobia, in 2002 as a means to release his own records and the label has just joined The Rebel Group, which now provides Elbogen with ADA distribution for the entire catalog. The band has no intentions of curbing its busy tour schedule, which continues with five weeks of headlining shows to support the July 25th release of Impeccable Blahs. -- Audrey Martin