Album Review: Skeleton Closet by Salim Nourallah

For most of his solo career, songwriter Salim Nourallah crafted understated, often meditative pop songs reliant on smart lyrics and a strong melodic sensibility. With 2012’s Hit Parade, something changed, and Nourallah appeared newly assertive. His seemed to move away from Kinks-inspired nostalgia and toward bolder rock and power pop, without sacrificing acumen or sense of humor.

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There is a parallel earth somewhere out there where clever, twangy power pop is a genre that produces hit after hit, not just the occasional novelty single, where Kirsty MacColl is the subject of numerous biopics, and the Texan Nourallah brothers were teen idols. We do not live in that universe, so instead, Salim Nourallah is a respected, prolific songwriter and producer (His credits include the last few Old 97s albums), but not anything resembling a rock star. His new album Skeleton Closet will seem to have come out of nowhere for many listeners, but it's not the work of some new kid.

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The late James Brown aside, Salim Nourallah may be the hardest working man in show-biz. OK, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but given his past credentials—an aggregate with his brother Faris succinctly titled the Nourallah Brothers, the two albums he recorded with his pop punk outfit the Happiness Factor, one with a later band called the Travoltas, as well as his string of solo albums—he’s clearly kept himself quite active over the course of the last 20 years. A handful of television song placements have helped of course, but regardless, it’s his stint as producer for the Old 97s, Rhett Miller and Nicholas Altobelli, among others, that have upped his recognition factor far more than anything recorded under his own aegis.

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The Upshot: Combining the effusive elation of mid ‘60s Brit pop, the sardonic commentary of Ray Davies and the oddly perverse observations of Robyn Hitchcock, these songs avoid the patent blueprint approach of most modern alt pop. The late James Brown aside, Salim Nourallah may be the hardest working man in show biz. Okay, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but given his past credentials – an aggregate with his brother Faris succinctly titled the Nourallah Brothers, the two albums he recorded with his pop punk outfit the Happiness Factor, one with a later band called the Travoltas, as well as his string of solo albums – he’s clearly kept himself quite active over the course of the last 20 years.

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Salim Nourallah — Skeleton Closet (Self-Released)<a href="http://salimnour. bandcamp. com/album/skeleton-closet">Skeleton Closet by Salim Nourallah</a>Salim Nourallah’s latest album shades darker than Hit Parade, baiting shrugging, nonchalant hooks with lyrical content that is at least a little off and maybe downright poisoned.

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