Weeks to Days

With so many post-millennial San Francisco bands mimicking Billy Childish's lo-fi indie garage rock, it’s getting harder to find twangy Americana in the City by the Bay. But with an inventive and unborrowed songwriting style balanced with classic West Coast twang, TV Mike & The Scarecrows stand out like a California poppy growing in the fog. Their 2013 debut album, Weeks to Days, opens with “Let’s Go,” which energetically sets the mood with a down-home boogie à la Creedence Clearwater Revival—save for searing slide-guitar leads that play like The Flying Burrito Brothers’ Pete Kleinow blasting out of J Mascis’ rig. It’s easy to forgive frontman Michael Klinge’s affected Southern drawl in the following “Hallelujah” when it’s contrasted by Andrea Delarosa's smooth inflections. “Hush” best exemplifies the band’s clever approach to songcraft. It starts with Klinge and Delarosa singing a stripped-down, stop-start folk ditty over a spare acoustic guitar. Rogue Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon adds in some beats alongside bass and a slide guitar that morphs into wah-wah funk midway through.