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Freeplay: Santa Inferno
By Shannon Yoshida
syoshida@mscd.edu

Santa Inferno Desert Music

If only more bands named their albums according to when and where they should be played. Santa Inferno has taken the step that other bands won’t by pointing the listener in the right direction with Desert Music.

“Let me hear those drums motherfucker!” are the first lyrics to be heard, followed by a nine-second drum solo. Despite the abrupt introduction, the lyrics continue with “last night was magic/so close/yet oh so tragic.” Santa Inferno starts off strong, as the next three songs exhibit the same happy, pop-punk tempos with the narratives of Hollywood wannabes with suburbanite lifestyles.

By the fifth track, the band makes it apparent that style changes are their style, with a jump to Elvis impersonations in “A TV Guide Zealot’s Xmas Carol.”

The song “Marmalade” features the standard disclaimer: “Due to mature adult content, parental discretion is advised,” followed by brief monkey sounds, gentle guitar playing and pretty-boy vocals. The disclaimer’s sarcasm soon becomes sparkling clear a minute and a half later as the song proves void of any salacious content and the singer is just barely hitting high pitches while singing, “What’s going to happen to baby when she loses her game?”

The sentimental seventh track starts with rainy sound effects, muffled vocals and the already familiar, tenderly strummed guitars.

The ninth and final track, “Tears on the Rocks” has more nature-themed sound effects, first with wind, followed by a thunderstorm, while the actual song is more like a distant sound, fading in and out. On top of more wind come the lyrics, “I was genuflecting on the edge of the world,” which continue into a slew of hard-to-follow sentences. Then the song title finally comes to light with the line, “The bartender slides me a tears on the rocks.”

While the world might blister in Santa Inferno’s Desert Music, the melodies are as refreshing as a glass of “tears on the rocks.”