K. Records
2007
Fill Up The Room
About This Album
There certainly wasn't anything wrong with the vintage-pop-with-a-low-fi-twist that Saturday Looks Good to Me perfected over the course of five albums and many, many singles. However, it's also understandable why Fred Thomas would be ready for a change, especially after switching labels and recording studios for Fill Up the Room, and change abounds on the album. The most obvious difference between Saturday's earlier work and Fill Up the Room is that Thomas sings lead on nearly all of the album, and it takes some getting used to hearing his endearingly strained voice on rangy melodies like "(Even If You Die on The) Ocean." But Fill Up the Room doesn't just have a sound that's different from the previous Saturday albums' charmingly lo-fi updates of '50s and '60s pop. This album is, well, filled with different approaches that might not have fit in the past, but make perfect, and perfectly whimsical, sense here. The opening track, "Apple," announces the kinds of changes to follow: a winding, doo wop-influenced interlude, it sounds little like where Saturday Looks Good to Me -- or any of Fred Thomas' other projects -- have been before. He sounds liberated by the opportunity for change, and some of Fill Up the Room's most exciting moments are the most different.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4 and 9)

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