DoublePlusGood

SoHiTek Records

DoublePlusGood is a Portland based band whose melodies have a way of following listeners out of the club. Having been established flag bearers for synth-pop in the Northwest for more than a decade, the trio command a production competence rivaled only by their melodic sensibilities.

The trio, consisting of singer/bassist Erik Carlson, guitarist Jared Anderson, and keyboard player Jason Andersen, have plugged into a sound that owes its glimmering production to the icy dance-floor cool of ’80s new wave as much as it does the heart-on-your-sleeve earnestness of the indie-pop of the early aughts. Carlson’s brassy baritone conveys lyrical sentiment of love-weary wisdom via stubborn romanticism, and is augmented by the groups penchant for upbeat slick arrangements.

The band’s broad appeal is best represented in its list of collaborations, remixes, and live shows.  They have shared the stage and worked with bands like Typhoon, remixing fellow local pop outfit Wild Ones, and opening for Black Moth Super Rainbow, Subtle, Why?, and Ariel Pink.

Named after a self-help book at from the turn of the last century, DoublePlusGood’s new full-length, “You Can Master Life,” joyously mocks the notion of mastery in relationships, and rather explores the inadequacies of high expectations. The record is book-ended by songs which celebrate the surrender to the life’s unpredictability, and catalogs the fight for control in between.