T
Brian Wilson No Pier Pressure POP (CAPITOL)
By Kyle Anderson
60
| EW.COM April 10, 2015
THIS ALBUM CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:
JI
S
ZD
OM
A
JA Z Z Y INTERLUDES
S A N DA L S
ZO O E Y DESCHANEL
OCEAN M E TA P H O R S
A CAPPELLA
WILSON: BRIAN BOWEN-SMITH; DESCHANEL: MARK HORTON/WIREIMAGE.COM; MUSGR AVES: RICH POLK /GET T Y IMAGES; RUESS: TIM MOSENFELDER /GET T Y IMAGES
Brian Wilson; (below, from top) She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel, Kacey Musgraves, and Nate Ruess
HE TITLE OF Brian Wilson’s 11th solo studio album, No Pier Pressure, is the kind of eye-roll-worthy pun your dad would drop at a barbecue. Wilson gets a pass, though—partly because he’s a musical icon (both on his own and with the Beach Boys) who helped reinvent the idea of how pop music could be constructed, and partly because he’s 72 years old. There’s a fundamental corniness running through Pressure, from its glossy soft-rock sheen to its borderline-anodyne lyrics about seaside love. But Wilson sells it pretty well, aided by his legendary knack for effervescent melodies and the presence of dynamic young guests, including Nate Ruess, She & Him, and Kacey Musgraves. Beach Boy pals Al Jardine, David Marks, and Blondie Chaplin show up too, on songs that focus largely on the harmonizing that made them famous. (Those songs are perfectly lovely, though something like “Sail Away” could have easily been shelved in 1963.) It’s the dalliances outside Wilson’s comfort zone that elevate Pressure, especially the twangy Musgraves-assisted story-song “Guess You Had to Be There” and the twisty roller jam “Runaway Dancer.” At this point, Wilson will BEST TR ACKS never top Pet Sounds ON THE ISLAND or “I Get Around.” Still, A coconut-scented lullaby aided by even if his latest doesn’t She & Him add much to his already ironclad legacy, it’s GUESS YOU HAD TO BE THERE undoubtedly a better Kacey Musgraves album than your dad brings bubbly Nashville sass could make. B
