Spilt Milk

Editors’ Notes Though Jason Falkner had left the group, Tim Smith, Jon Brion, and Lyle Workman all helped lead singer Andy Sturman put together a worthy follow-up to Jellyfish’s classic debut album, Bellybutton. And they managed something even more detailed and inspiring. With Spilt Milk, the duo of Sturmer and keyboardist Roger Manning used the additional members strategically to make a studio album that was in every way a studio album. The dense vocal harmonies, psychedelia, and consistently shifting rhythms and textures were clearly inspired by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Badfinger, Electric Light Orchestra, and XTC. Where the debut album had been content with joyous pop songs, Spilt Milk demands complexity. Songs such as “Joining a Fan Club,” “Sabrina, Paste and Plato,” “The Ghost at #1," and “He’s My Best Friend” recall the glorious harmony pop of the ‘60s, while a track like “All Is Forgiven” thrives on a tense rhythmic drive and guitar-based performance that modernizes new wave.