Past Meets Present in Open Window Maniac’s Superkiller

Not merely a nostalgic homage to songs of decades past, but rather a collection that lives in a scene separated by time. The tones, the spirit, the style all live back then and yet, they remain relevant because they exist now. 

This was the initial feeling that struck me when I played through Superkiller by Open Window Maniac for the first time. The album has a throwback quality with shades of the 80s in the tones (thinking The Cure) and late 90s Desaparecidos, Third Eye Blind, with a vocal delivery in line with early Death Cab for Cutie and Elliot Smith vocal delivery. 

“A lot of those bands had vocals with few harmonies or auxiliary vocals, too, which I was especially drawn to when I was younger,” says Superkiller songwriter Brendan Deely, “I think the gear and technical limitations of the time that the song is recorded lend a lot to the aesthetics that I like and set out to capture. And like The Cure, I also use a Roland Jazz Chorus amplifier, which instantly brings to mind 80s guitar tones — Johnny Marr and the Cocteau Twins are also huge influences there.”

The songs on Superkiller have catchy hooks to them, even if there is no repeating chorus; the vocal melodies themselves flow in such a way that makes the songs feel familiar and singable. A song like Frog Song bops along, full of lines that you can’t help but sing along with even if you aren’t sure what the words are. 

“As the songwriting workshop went on, I found that I was returning to a more hook-laden/ poppier approach that I had when I first began writing songs,” muses Deely, “which was really fun. Some of the lyrics are from fictional character’s points of view, but a majority of them are meditations/ freak-outs on navigating a career-change and musings on what’s happened to my neighborhood in Providence over the last 75 years.”

The songs were conceived and developed at the Brown Songwriting Workshop. It was here that Deely befriended Jack Zornado and Bill Bartholomew who played bass and drums on the record, respectively. They brought the songs to Big Nice Studio in Lincoln, where they worked with local-virtuoso producer Chaimes Parker.

“We really hadn’t practiced the songs much prior to entering the studio, some not at all, and the recording process forced us to stick to our initial ideas for the most part,” Deely notes, “What transformed/ elevated the songs the most were all of the keyboards and auxiliary instruments that producer Chaimes Parker and I played after tracking the band, particularly a Hammond Organ, a Yamaha DX7, and a 70s Moog keyboard. Big Nice has a lot of cool toys.”

The guitar sounds and tones are instruments in and of themselves and oftentimes the guitar sound and tone make it hard for me to hear the song going any other direction than it is. I'm thinking of a track like Nightfire with the droning ending and resonant high tones verses the verse chugging-clean of a track like Pizza Hut with the chorus-laden riff layered over. Drone-laden distortion on Superkiller. Straight up acoustic on Continuity. The flavors hit the listener with each new track. A wardrobe of sound.

I'm always intrigued by the two chord songs that captivate. The track Untitled/Unprompted is mostly a two-chord song throughout the verse and into the chorus. I think that if an artist can take something as simple as a two chord song with, maybe a third chord as a turnaround and make that simple structure into something captivating and fresh, that is a mark of a good songwriter. It is not the emulation of something, but rather something altogether new and unique unto itself. 

“I think for me the fewer chords you present early on creates a kind of anticipation for what’s next,” Deely says, “which means you can withhold or reveal chords later on that would suggest a key signature or go in a different direction altogether. That challenge of keeping it interesting with less is what makes it feel fresh.”

You can catch faithful live recreations of Superkiller at the album release at Myrtle in East Providence on October 16, featuring Chaimes Parker on second guitar, Jack Zornado on bass, and Bill Bartholomew on drums.  For all things Open Window Maniac, follow them on Instagram at @owm.pvd.  Brendan’s brother, Brian, took the album’s cover photo, and he photographs professionally as Deely Images. Check out his incredible work over at deelyimages.com.