Jason Narducy is developing a reputation as the sideman everyone wants. In recent years, he has done serious time playing with Bob Mould, Robert Pollard, Telekinesis and Superchunk. The celebrities (Michael Shannon, Fred Armisen, Jeff Tweedy, etc.) also lined up to take part in a series of hilarious videos celebrating you-know-who, the guy with the "sexiest elbows in rock."
But he's also a first-rate songwriter and band leader. In recent years, after a batch of underappreciated Verbow albums with cellist Alison Chesley in the '90s, Narducy has returned to fronting his own project, Split Single. The band's 2014 debut, "Fragmented World," included a high-powered rhythm section: Superchunk's Jon Wurster on drums and Spoon's Britt Daniel. For the follow-up, "Metal Frames" (Inside Outside), Wurster is back on drums and Wilco's John Stirratt on bass.
Narducy is working from the power-pop template of childhood heroes, notably the early Who and Cheap Trick. Most of the 11 songs barely graze the three-minute mark, and one ("White Smoke") blasts past in a mere 109 seconds. Within those tight confines, Narducy packs the tunes to bursting with hooks and sonic details. "Untry Love" shifts from power chords to an acoustic interlude, then a Keith Moon-like drum breakout from Wurster. "Blank Ribbons" superimposes a caustic riff over maracas and bubbling bass. "Leave My Mind" ratchets up the drama, with the rhythm section in the foreground of a sparse, moody arrangement.
Split Single keeps melody on the front burner, but isn't averse to slowing things down for theatrical effect, particularly on the album's most unsettling song, "Silences Mercy." It's all coiled tension and vaguely Gothic atmosphere, with Narducy's voice at its most wispy and insinuating. "Evaline Make Believe" merges guitar distortion with aching harmonies that suggests the best of Teenage Fanclub, circa "Bandwagonesque." Narducy kisses off the album with the storming "Goodnight World," his voice at its rawest and his guitar solo going haywire. Clearly, elbows were sharpened for the occasion.
