# LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS Return With “Handclaps & Tambourines” Out October 14

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/librarians-with-hickeys-return-with-handclaps-tambourines-out-october-14/
- Published: 2022-09-13T11:30:00-05:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

**Big Stir Records** announces the much-anticipated return of **LIBRARIANS WITH 
HICKEYS**, back for 2022 with their new album **_HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES_**. The
record, featuring the lead single “Ghost Singer”, sees release October 14 on CD 
at record stores worldwide and streaming everywhere, with pre-order options live
now at [www.bigstirrecords.com](https://u648841.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=n4-2BFS6ihWTIbrglZSRCLUdCctLWe5GlloZggC2-2BJ3RWsud1YbMXpNlgOl1oX25c52MPTX3IsLeg-2BMwCLgx-2FmKmZGGZxfcGn6jvY8Jt6myAQJDFta7K7UvujjkAtX30oJLZasWQTkCoapZDykTVbkYT5NOYXTXiRkWY1L36yhbKQ-3DEfSk_gjUN5q0oY-2Fa9pVSh-2F3ttEV36g8zdE-2BC7uOgdgzyXpkp1UsIlWUxX6pNV4tKRzAaqyAnrJf-2F4xdeYLQuUFzCZLTwrnHmSOSByLZakTEHun-2FfffIhdD44Wl3Nkfuf8WeQawnbouPCMaVgeoT8HGeuC7ba0j37N38loxW1WgNu-2FJyGw0-2BPkA2BYagz88jVyUujobx809AoKHdVzPQPIPr3qLnf7ekfiePrSCrtYBkKo7CyTfBmhrPI2huJKwJpqrdYbB-2BE9FHxjo7dmb1XdIMsOqlqk2rs2RsAG5GnBGVpWq5BnTCVBOlgLaTVkENktsRHpI9s5zDJzlV6PCgN-2FPY204w-3D-3D)
and all major online retailers. It’s the followup to their breakout debut album **
_LONG OVERDUE_** and delivers all the hooks, melodies, spiraling guitars and rhythmic
charge that the first record, as well as last year’s hit double A-side teaser single“
I Can’t Stop Thinking About You” and “Stumbling Down Memory Lane” — both included
here – have left fans worldwide anticipating.

![](https://i0.wp.com/d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/284050/f1646d18e93027013d0b0df94853cd8af67b314b/
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There’s something in a name, and Akron, Ohio-based indie popsters **LIBRARIANS WITH
HICKEYS** both made and earned theirs in 2020 with a string of hit singles and their
acclaimed debut album **_LONG OVERDUE_** on **Big Stir Records**. On a pop rock 
scene where too many otherwise fine bands stick to the playbook of one particular
subgenre or decade, our **Librarians **– singer/guitarist **Ray Carmen**, lead guitarist/
vocalist **Mike Crooker**, bassist **Andrew Wilco** and drummer **Rob Crossley**—
write, play, sing and record like they have shelf upon shelf of pop-rock history
tomes at their disposal. As for the eyebrow-raising “**With Hickeys**” bit, if it
bespeaks a certain amorousness, that passion is there in the grooves of the band’s
tunes to0: to paraphrase Jonathan Richman, they’re in love with modern rock and 
roll, and you can hear it on the new album **_HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES_**.

**LWH** themselves call the new album** “**the perfect album for your next rock-
and-roll book club meeting with the band’s melodic muscular indie pop (coffee and
snacks not included)” and true to their word, they deliver twelve tracks that draw
on their encyclopedic engagement with the full and rich history of rock with hooks,
harmonies, ringing guitars and (yes) handclaps and tambourines. Confronting the 
twin specters of the so-called “second album syndrome” and the protracted pandemic
era head-on, the band recorded an entire second album, and then threw it out. **
_Handclaps & Tambourines_ **is actually their third album – meaning we can avoid
the dreaded term “sophomore” – but we’re calling it their second one. Got it? Good.
Now let’s head into the stacks and peruse the tracks – and sounds – on offer.

Is it power-pop? The answer is an emphatic yes, but a timeless variety that’s delightfully
impossible to pin to any timeframe. The band’s trademark soundscape – a twin-guitar
sheen worthy of The Church or the Chameleons topped by **Carmen**‘s inviting tenor
coo – evoke the heights of ’80s college rock. It’s abundantly displayed on songs
like the anthemic garage-wall-of-sound of “Can’t Wait ‘Till Summer” with its ringing
harmonics, and the 2021 hit “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You,” where the shimmering
riff and the vocal melody chase each other to halcyon heights. But you’ll hear ’
90s indie rock lovingly sound-checked on tracks like the instantly memorable lead
single “Ghost Singer” (with **Christina Bulbenko** and **Rex Broome** of **The Armoires**
joining **Crooker** as the ethereal Greek chorus) and “I See You” (just listen to
that rhythm section kick).

Elsewhere the sounds of the glitter-pop ’70s flamboyantly manifest themselves: “
Lady Overdrive”’s glam-rock will wash you out to sea in a tidal wave of woozy feedback
and lead guitarist **Mike Crooker**‘s wah-wah guitar. Speaking of glam, **Crooker**
makes his lead vocal debut on “Over You” (glitter, high heeled boots and face paint
not included)! And there are nods aplenty to the ’60s roots of the form of which**
LWH** are such scholars and masters, as on the Rec-Room Crew pop of “Me And My Big
Mouth”, inspired by **Carmen**’s obsession with the Monkees. Be sure and listen,
too, for **Ray’**s whirly tube solo on the Banana Splits-trapped-on-a-merry-go-round
psychedelic bubblegum pop of “Fairground”. And the opening barnstormer “I Better
Get Home” rocks a 60’s Hammond organ and cheerleaders sugared-up on…something (probably
Starbucks).

Lyrically, too, there’s a wistful tinge of times gone by, manifesting itself itself
in the fine ballads that are among the record’s most timeless passages. “Stumbling
Down Memory Lane” is a poignant ballad about the uncertainty of getting older in
a troubled world, missing musical icons who are no longer with us, and friendships
torn apart by the the political landscape of 2016-2022. “The Last Days Of Summer”
is a lush autumnal track about welcoming the changing of the seasons, and features
the haunting viola of** Larysa Bulbenko** (**The Armoires) **lending the tune a 
pastoral, British folk rock feel. And “When We Were Young” is the band’s lighter-
waving anthem – a look back at their younger days when they could stay out all night
playing in bars with their friends and then get up and go to work the next day on
two or three hours of sleep. Like the album’s sound, it’s a portrait of then, now,
and the days between all at once.

**_HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES_** is a worthy successor to **_Long Overdue_**, proving
that even though they’re old enough to know better, they still play _way_ too loud
for the local library’s summer reading club party. But the global indie pop scene
knows what to expect from **LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS**, and the new album delivers
it in volumes. Turn it up, because it’s one for the ages… and, with its kaleidoscope
of sounds and classic songwriting transcending the generations, one for _all_ ages.

![Big Stir Records](https://i0.wp.com/d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/284050/6e93dd79734ce640bf0d4e0e8516effef3acdca4/
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