Ahh, November— the shorter and colder days, the season of falling leaves and hoodies, the perfect occasion to break out some new…bright, summery pop music? OK, perhaps the timing of its release is a little less than perfect, but that’s essentially the only flaw in Mercy Mercedes’ sparkling debut LP, Believe It, an exhilarating rush of sugar-pop that’s certain to brighten the grayest of fall days.

Since breaking onto the scene in 2008 with the shiny, synth-fluff of their Casio Rodeo EP (retitled 1.21 Gigawatts for rerelease), Mercy Mercedes seem to have been engaged in a process of actively stripping themselves down, whittling away any over-the-top electronics, flashy fashion, and even a couple band members. The result is a sleek, lean, galloping pop-rock album that soars and swells in all the right places without ever feeling calculated.

At the fore is lead singer Nate Smith, whose high pitched vocals approach the range of Cartel’s Will Pugh and New Found Glory’s Jordan Pundik, coming through with a sweet, unadulterated clarity that perfectly compliments the clean guitar leads of secret weapon Brandon “$B-Real$” Ham. It’s a combination that sparks to life in the first moments of opening track “Drop Top” — an ode to the exhilaration of both burgeoning love and cruising to the radio with the top down — and doesn’t let up for the duration of the album.

Smith keeps his lyrics simple and straightforward — don’t expect Shakespearean sonnets or political treatises — focusing his energies instead on eminently relatable source material and incessantly catchy sing-along choruses, the best of which linger on hours after listening. Hooks don’t get much better than “All We’ve Ever Known“‘s “Three cheers for the good vibrations // Journey blowing up the FM station // senoritas wanna go all night // I think it’s time we lost control // it’s all we’ve ever known,” the refrain buttressed with multitrack vocal leads and glorious ooh-ahh harmonies. It’s so well done, you can hardly blame the band for injecting its own name into the chorus the last time around. “All We’ve Ever Known” deserves to be a pop-radio staple right alongside the Journey and Tom Petty they namecheck.

Mercy Mercedes also clearly understand how to draw it back a notch too. Standout track “Outta Time” never reaches skyward, instead skittering forward across the lithe beats and deft hi-hat work of drummer Mike Arnette, punctuated by a solo from Ham that manages to somehow be spectacularly flashy yet humble— damn near impossible to pull off.  Elsewhere, ”Heart Racer” incorporates atmospheric electronics and guitar delay that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Angels & Airwaves or U2 release, but without lapsing into the pomp and bombast of either.   It’s a lesson in tastefulness of which that other bands are well-advised to take note.

Believe It includes revved-up rerecordings of two previously-released songs: “Shiver Me Timbers” and the band’s heretofore signature song, “The Perfect Scene.”  ”Scene” gets a bit of a sonic spitshine but hews close to the original. “Shiver,” however, is mixed much tighter in it’s new form  — the synth harshness replaced by chiming piano, the vocals given more space to breathe — and the resulting song is a revelation, immeasurably better than the original even though none of the underlying structure has been changed.

The only real change of pace on Believe It is closing track “Ways To Go,” a warmly atmospheric meditation on perseverance in the face of one’s own shortcomings. It’s an exercise in humility that perfectly summarizes the album’s aesthetic, and makes for a note-perfect cap on as close to a perfect pop rock album as you’ll hear this year.

*****/*****

*This review was composed by Jesse Richman