Left Is West, How to be Happy Without Even Trying (2018, self release)

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

While at the Minne Lusa show last weekend at O’Leaver’s, Mike Tulis, one of the area’s finest musicians and a man with impeccable taste, handed me a copy of the new Left Is West CD How to Be Happy Without Even Trying and said it was one of the best records he’s heard so far this year. That’s high praise coming from someone who has forgotten more music than most of us have heard.

Left Is West is a Des Moines, Iowa, band that’s been around since 2004, according to their bio on Facebook. At the center is singer-songwriter Chad O’Neall, who plays guitar alongside Matt Wellendorf, lead guitar; Pat Curtis, drums; John Parrish, bass, and Matt Jesson on keyboards. This current line-up has been together since 2013 and includes members of such acts as North of Grand, Brother Tucker and Monday Mourners, a band that released a split LP last year with Omaha act Clarence Tilton.

Tilton is among the bands that came to mind when listening to the CD, along with Wilco, The Jayhawks, Matthew Sweet and Centro-Matic, as well as classic ’70s FM acts like England Dan and John Ford Coley, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and dare I say it, The Eagles. The record skirts the border between modern Americana and slick FM MOR of yesteryear. MOR as in “Middle of the Road,” as in stuff I remember hearing on KFAB when KFAB played music.

We’re talking songs with sing-along choruses (none more so than “You Got the Coast,” which will make an appearance on my 2019 “best of” comp), ripping electric guitar solos, traditional rock-song structures complete with “big endings.” O’Neall knows how to write a great power-pop song — and every one of these has a massive hook. If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of it.

That said, this record will never be reviewed by Pitchfork, never be featured on Stereogum. It’s not “indie” in a genre-centric sense, though if Wilco had released this record it would be mega. This is college music for people who went to college in the ’80s or ’90s, which can be problematic because it’s hard to market music to a generation that quit going to the bars and listening to new music well over a decade ago.

That said, Mr. Tulis is right (He’s always right). And like him I, too, think this is one of the best records I’ve heard so far this year (and it’s been a very good year, my friends).

You won’t find this on Bandcamp (or at least I couldn’t). You will find it on Spotify and on Apple Music (probably). And you’ll very likely be able to buy your copy when Left is West plays at O’Leaver’s this Friday night with Lupines (Mike Tulis’ band). See you there.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.