The Smashing Times do one thing and they do it really well; make catchy, jangling guitar pop that sounds like it was recorded in the bottom of a well. Inspired by other fidelity challenged bands like Guided by Voices, Television Personalities, and Times New Viking, they add some freshness to the bloodline. Their 2019 debut cassette EP Come Along with Me is full of hooky, heart-felt pop tunes that sacrifice crisp, clear sound in favor of immediacy, but don’t submerge the singing and playing in so much clatter that the emotions are blunted. Much of the album has the autumnal wistfulness of the Byrds at their most elegiac, only recorded on a beat box instead of a state-of-the-art studio. All seven songs on the record all dig deeply into this mood…

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