Certain things are hard to define—but, as they say, you know them when you see/hear them. Take the nebulous concept of a “summer album.” What makes a “summer album” a “summer album”? Songs about soaking up the sun and hanging out at the beach? What if an album doesn’t necessarily have those things but still feels like a “summer album”? That’s the case with I’ll Dissolve For You, the new record from Wauwatosa singer-songwriter MD McNally. It’s a summer album! You’ll know it when you hear it.
Okay, maybe we’re cheating, because if you don’t define I’ll Dissolve For You as a “summer album,” well, it’s kind of hard to define. McNally discreetly pulls from a lot of genres here: sunny indie-rock on “Strange Currents,” breezy Americana on “Near Eau Claire,” Elvis Costello power-pop on “Stadia,” jam-band grooviness on “El Matador.” Holding it all together is McNally’s earnest vocals and sharp songwriting, both of which fall somewhere between Matthew Sweet and The Wallflowers.
McNally performs the bulk of the instruments on I’ll Dissolve For You, though he’s assisted by the incomparable Devin Drobka (Field Report, Caley Conway) on drums, and the invaluable Ian Olvera (Wire & Vice) and Justin Perkins (Mystery Room Mastering) on mixing and mastering. What does it all add up to? Well, a summer album! And a great one at that.
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