Pretty & Nice
By Taylor Bratches

The quintet comprised of Jeremy Mendicino, Holden Lewis, Andy Contois and Bobby Landry don’t just record at their home in lower Allston, they live in their studio — a house full of cables, guitars, and amps. It’s the home base for their excellent indie rock band Pretty & Nice. They’ve known this house as home only for a few months, having moved from Vermont to Boston in May 2007. In fact, Pretty & Nice as it exists now has been together only since their move last Spring, and most of their recorded material is the product of the long-lasting collaboration between guitarist/vocalist/producer Mendicino and guitarist/vocalist Lewis. Prior to Boston, Pretty & Nice was more of a project — a pulsing pop organism of revolving members and more-or-less momentary collaborations.

“The band formed over the past three years or so — or has been around and went through lots of different variations, lots of different people,” explains Lewis. The band had already released their debut full-length, 2006’s Pink And Blue, before joining forces with drummer Landry and bassist Contois. Landry and Contois linked up with Pretty & Nice having already pursued their own musical endeavors — Landry was a member of the post-hardcore/experimental outfit Sparrows Swarm & Sing and Contois was primarily involved in jazz and metal projects. Yet, despite diverging musical influences, the now-solidified collective has no reservations about creating their tour-de-force of angular pop. While some believe their sound is an amalgamation of Dischord-style dance punk (as in the late Q And Not U) and dance-infused Euro post-punk (The Futureheads or self-proclaimed “New Ravers” Klaxons), the members of Pretty & Nice believe they are playing pop, plain and simple. And this assertion is difficult to dispute — their melodies are so catchy, their hooks so good, and their vocals so enticing that they border on irony. Scratch that — Pretty & Nice would argue their sound is brimming with irony, or as they call it, “post-irony.” Mendicino elaborates: “We realize all that has come before us, and so every decision we make depends on everything that we have already consumed and digested. ‘Post-irony’ is based on an established boredom of what we’ve already enjoyed.”

Lewis adds, “We’re serious in the sense that we want to make good things, but you can’t make a pop song without being ironic, because just the notion of writing a pop song today is ironic.”

Of course, it is a feat for any artist to detangle himself from his myriad influences: Elvis Costello, XTC and Ex-Models among others. As Jeremy suggests, the process of creating art in some way acknowledges past experience and history, even if by refutation or sublimation — or at least through subconscious rendering. Thus, the punk rumblings are there, despite the band’s ardent pop mentality.

Pretty & Nice’s clear sense of direction has undeniably worked for them, having successfully put out two well-received releases, their full-length and a recent EP entitled Blue & Blue. The latter takes their sound to a new, hyper-dancetastic domain, as it is one part new material, three parts remixes of songs from Pink & Blue.

“We [contacted] a few artists who were obsessed with their work, and then put all the songs up on a server so they could choose what they wanted,” explains Mendicino. The result is a collection of club-ready remixes that are tactfully remodeled and/or deconstructed, still fitting in with the band’s definitive direction and sound. With Pretty & Nice now in full swing, the future looks promising.

“We’re talking with some people about the next album being on a label. We’re really excited.”

In the spirit of celebration and irony, Mendicino starts singing Christmas carols and passes around sugar cookies stamped into the ampersand symbol. We all join in, basking in the beauty of kitsch.

www.myspace.com/prettyandnice