Somerset Catalog is a bubblegum doom-pop outfit from Denver, Colorado. What is bubblegum doom-pop? Glad you asked, and Somerset Catalog has the answer. For those who follow Colorado music closely, Somerset Catalog is a dream team. The roster includes former members of Alan Alda, Bela Karoli, Everything Absent or Distorted (a love story), Instant Empire, and Rabbit is a Sphere, plus members currently in Poet's Row and The Big Get Even. While this list of bands brings a certain pedigree to Somerset Catalog, at the end of the day it's all just name dropping. Oftentimes, supergroups are great on paper, as if the members of the brilliant bands that preceded will add up to some sort of mega-brilliance in the super group, but in reality don't gel, are much worse than the individual parts. That's not the case with Somerset Catalog. Somerset Catalog is not a supergroup formed in a lab, rather the group seemed to gather spontaneously just days before they performed at the Underground Music Showcase in 2012. And as much as the astute listener may try to find traces of the bands that came before, this is not Frankenstein music, but a new thing entirely. The band makes music that moves between desperate longing and loud resignation, pop music with an unspoken, lurid past doing naughty things that scratch the sheen. Although the band takes their lyrics and melodies very seriously, an undercurrent of self-reflexive joy reassures the audience of Somerset's playful intent. Tired for the Cause, Shaking Windows, Broken Elbow, Secrets This Year, Landing Gear, My Brother the War, Holy Cigarettes, Golden Balcony, This Piano, Nico
