It might raise a few eyebrows if I were to describe making an out-and-out power pop album a brave move, in doing so creating a sit up and take notice statement release, but I believe this to be both and I am happy to make that call. The truth about writing and recording great pop songs in the classicist’s mould, is that it is actually a tough undertaking to get right but when someone does, the end results sound effortless. Taking the trouble to structure chord patterns that stimulate the senses to feel an emotion, then growing a melodic pattern that pulls a listener in and holds them there before finally icing the cake with lyrics that speak in easily understood, poetically inclined thoughts is a craft that needs a degree of talent to effectively realise. The other thing that relatively new artists, which Van Doorn still counts as, can enjoy is that they often have a lot of low hanging fruit in the ideas chamber of their mind. The simplest yet often most immediately memorable song ideas present themselves without inhibition to artists like Wills, who is still at the exciting early phase of his career where he can find a natural and honest sound without inhibition, free from the fear that he might be repeating his own previous work.

And so it is that we now find Wills Van Doorn really making some big music noise with ‘Enduro,’ ironic when you consider how quietly he has been carving out his own corner of Portland’s power‑pop underground. Wills building blocks were a handful of early home‑recorded releases which are now hitting full bloom with the fully fledged melodic craft on display in ‘Enduro.’ A multi‑instrumentalist with a fondness for bright hooks and tightly wired arrangements, Van Doorn first surfaced with the 2020 EP ‘Run With You,’ a lo‑fi glimpse of the tuneful instincts he is now sharpening and evolving today with this bold new album. Over the past six years Wills has embedded himself further into the city’s DIY ecosystem, writing and refining the songs that would become his debut album, all while developing a reputation for meticulous preparation in the studio. That discipline meets a streak of spontaneity on the new record which was produced in a whirlwind weekend by Johnny Payne and powered by the rhythmic drive of Beach House drummer James Barone. The album captures Van Doorn heading off down a new highway, one where his classicist pop sensibilities, the Big Star pop punch, the Lemon Twigs‑ish theatricality, all lock into place with a confident sense of momentum.

That assuredness can be seen in spades with a song like ‘Aero,’ which glides into view like a cloud raining sensuous George Harrison guitar washes over everything in sight; that it also has octave leaping verses and a heavenly chorus is almost incidental, a case of if the sound does not floor you then the song itself surely will. The title track enters with the jangle of Wills electric guitar, after which an off-mic count in launches the maximum, both juicy and chunky, guitar riffs with a bang and our lead vocalist sets in motion a journey into song. The classic sixties and seventies pop reference points pile up, ‘Ever Wonder Why’ ticks off subliminal ELO style textures, a suggestion but not overcooked helping of Beach Boys type backing vocals and a guitar solo that has so much trebly bite it might just blow your speakers. But my main point is that taking these incredible influences is all well and good, but it is what Wills is doing with them that makes the difference, he is making great sounding songs that are entirely his. And it is with these standard measures that the ten-track album plays on, refusing to sing with a solo voice when a harmonious, multi-voiced serenade will propel you to the ninety-ninth floor, steadfastly resisting to reprise a verse if a dreamily middle eight can open up another dimension but equally holding back when a pared down electric piano and vocal introduction (‘Wake Up’) is already hitting the spot without over decoration. But then that same song, clocking in at under three minutes, walks into another space aglow with a fruity organ break and slam-dunking fuzz guitar solo. This simultaneously complex yet oh-so simple pleasure of an album does so much in half an hour, it gets in and gets out grinning atop the enviable job satisfaction of delivering a power pop album par-excellence!

Danny Neill

You can get the album via this link: https://enigmaticbrunchrecords.bandcamp.com/album/enduro