Desmond Reed: The Baby-Sitters Club EP (2007)

I realize now that Desmond Reed was only getting started when he released the Guinea Pigs EP a few months ago. His newest release on cass_et_tape_records, The Baby-Sitters Club EP still features just Desmond and a guitar, but the hooks have never been so sweet and the lyrics so genuine. The first song “The Baby-Sitters Club” finds Desmond more thankful professing his love for this new circle of friends, even calling them on the phone because he has too much homework! “When I Met Michelle” is perfect. I feel like I could have written a song like this when I first got a girlfriend. Never has someone captured so sublimely the excitement of a nerdy kid's first gal like when Desmond sings, “But I’m not the type of guy that immediately tries/ I look before I leap/ but then don’t leap because I’m shy/ and that’s why/ I was terrified/ back when I met Michelle.” He even refers to his favorite super heroes regarding their relationship (I did a Lord of the Rings comparison with my first relationship). “When I Met Michelle” is my song and probably some of you out there will claim it too. “Cabin Fever” is so hilariously self-deprecating that it makes Kevin Smith look like Charles Foster Kane. He knows it too. How can we not laugh, yet relate to lines like, “I hope nobody asks me what’s up/ I won’t have anything to say/ except to say I pretty much suck.” Desmond Reed’s The Baby-Sitters Club EP is another quick shot of lo-fi bedroom pop that’ll win you over with its genuine hooks and big heart.

Desmond Reed-"When I Met Michelle"

Desmond Reed on myspace
The cass_et_tape_records site
Buy The Baby-Sitters Club EP Here!
My review of the Guinea Pigs EP

Desmond Reed-Guinea Pigs EP (2007)

Since I discovered Wee Pop! Records I’ve been doing my best to try and snatch up all their releases. Desmond Reed is a musician from Orange, Massachusetts and the Guinea Pigs EP is a small slice of his smart brand of lo-fi four-track pop. There are only three tracks on this EP and like other Wee Pop! albums this demands and requires repeated listens. The obvious center point to this EP is the first song “Guinea Pigs” which had me giggling over how silly and cute it sounds (The album cover also adds to the humorous effect). However the song maintains a certain dignity and you’ll get sucked into the world of the song singing along, “At least I have my guinea pigs whoa oh!” Let us not forget the other two songs on this EP that stand out to me along the same lines if not more. “Neat” is in many ways about being ignored and we all can relate. With only that fact, this song hits home perfectly and Desmond Reed’s lyrics express all the memories any of us have ever had about girls and boys we pinged after in high school. My favorite track, “First Proud, Then Sad” takes a statement like the title and shares with us life lessons that sound truer the older we get. If anything Desmond Reed proves that there still is nothing more powerful than a boy and his guitar.

Mp3:
Desmond Reed-"First Proud, Then Sad"

Links:
Desmond Reed on myspace
Wee Pop! Records