Saturday Looks Good To Me

Embracing a wildly eclectic variety of melodic influences, Saturday Looks Good to Me is the brainchild of indie pop wunderkind <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Fred Thomas</a>, who has been the only constant member of the group since its inception in 2000. Saturday Looks Good to Me began as a fanciful project by <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> (previously a member of <a href="spotify:artist:32IKF1c64nJgCsbri27feW">Flashpapr</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3qQ2w1Y1xgMDbTzuCpS2jy">Lovesick</a>) to create a record by a band that didn't exist; with the help of a handful of like-minded friends, <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> wrote and produced a set of nine songs that drew on '60s pop sounds (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Motown%22">Motown</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4Q82S0VzF8qlCb4PnSDurj">Brian Wilson</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3jVMgT4X7YeuYE4aludcmE">Phil Spector</a> are clear reference points) while also taking cues from contemporary indie rock. <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> gave the project the name Saturday Looks Good to Me, and the nine tunes were released on a limited-edition vinyl LP by the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Here+Forever+Always%22">Here Forever Always</a> label in the spring of 2000 (a CD reissue appeared two years later). A CD-R album of more music from the phantom group, Cruel August Moon (aka I Take a Chance Every Time) followed in the fall of 2000, but Saturday Looks Good to Me was one of several projects for <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> until 2002, when the pop-oriented emo group <a href="spotify:artist:5gWhlJBlLQGLOgYWO8lwCU">Saves the Day</a> came across a copy of the debut album and was impressed enough to invite SLGTM to open for them on a national tour. <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> assembled a band to play the songs on-stage, and the tour was successful enough that Saturday Looks Good to Me not only won a new legion of fans but landed a deal with the Illinois-based independent label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Polyvinyl+Records%22">Polyvinyl Records</a>. In March 2003, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Polyvinyl%22">Polyvinyl</a> released the second full-length SLGTM effort, All Your Summer Songs, while their third, Every Night, came out in the fall of 2003; Every Night was released on both vinyl and CD, with the same songs appearing on both formats but in different recordings or mixes. Between albums, <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> and his crew released a steady stream of singles, EPs, and CD-R titles, and the 2006 collection Sound on Sound featured the lion's share of Saturday Looks Good to Me's non-LP tracks. By this time <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> was also taking Saturday Looks Good to Me on the road on a regular basis, and the group's growing following and reputation for sterling, idiosyncratic pop captured the attention of the venerable indie label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22K+Records%22">K Records</a>, who stepped forward to issue SLGTM's fourth proper album, Fill Up the Room, in the fall of 2007. The band's live-based sound experiments also informed their Cold Colors EP, which arrived in 2007 and hinted at <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a>' atmospheric electronics to come with <a href="spotify:artist:7kVf0GE2ycKQ3mH1Z3FRoV">City Center</a>. Almost six years passed before another Saturday Looks Good to Me album appeared. In the interim, <a href="spotify:artist:6QA7spY3kFRPGsl2xV4QTf">Thomas</a> immersed himself in a number of different projects including the aforementioned Ryan Howard collaboration <a href="spotify:artist:7kVf0GE2ycKQ3mH1Z3FRoV">City Center</a> and the surf pop act <a href="spotify:artist:0PH0Y4mh4mvkHeVTRT0cQV">Swimsuit</a>. When One Kiss Ends It All arrived in 2013, it featured an array of female vocalists and combined infectious, summery pop with an inventive production ethic. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi