As a hardcore Beatles fan and Lennon-lover myself, I am usually skeptical of bands that obviously emulate the holy quadrumvirate. However,  listening to The Red Button’s sophomore album As Far As Yesterday Goes was like taking in a breath of fresh air. Singing and songwriting duo Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg proudly exhibit their expertise with the three-minute pop song tradition on their newest release. With it’s upbeat, Lennon-esque vocals and bubblegum-pop melodies, The Red Button reinvents that British Invasion-style of sound in a way that preserves the original appeal of the sweet 60s music without showing its age.

Each track contains traces of other influential pop artists as well, including some as old as Elvis Costello and some as recent as Oasis. The title track “As Far As Yesterday Goes” lays down a catchy bass line and deep vocals reminiscent of the Zombies’ “She’s Not There,” and I can’t tell you how much that makes me want to put on my Mad Men getup and dance. I am also a big fan of the song “Sandreen,” and the way the vocals almost seem to mimic the soft cooing of Elliot Smith.

Although the tempo is mostly fast and the melodies sound rather cheerful, the lyrics are not nearly as positive, and I believe that’s a real defining quality of The Red Button. I’d advise any listener to pair this album with a cold glass of lemonade and a cracked windown on a breezy day.

Reviewed by Chelsea Deptula

Typically, artists pay homage to their pop/rock heroes or an era that is special to them by creating collections of crafty covers. This is way too typical and unimaginative for the brilliant, versatile, and agile musical minds of Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg, who follow up their critically acclaimed 2007 indie debut, She’s About to Cross My Mind, with an equally brilliant set of originals that draw from an even richer, more stylistically expansive well than their previous work did. The mid-’60s Beatles mystique is still there, to be sure; with its feisty harmonica and shimmering guitars; the rousing opener “Caught in the Middle” is a contemporary equivalent of what might have happened if Lennon and McCartney had come up with sharper lyrics and a more dynamic groove on “I Should Have Known Better.” Album title aside, it’s just as much about the tomorrows that follow yesterday — as in what Ruekberg, the album’s producer, has called the “golden age of singer/songwriter driven pop/rock.” The result is a delightful journey that allows listeners to remain in the indie world of the 2010s while drifting off on a dreamy, super-melodic bus infused with the pure pop magic of 1965-1973. Kids growing up in the 2010s might not remember a time when music was this charming, to the point, and infectious, which is all the more reason their parents should make them listen to it. The good news is that the vibe harkens back to an era where music was eminently hummable; the better news is that Swirsky and Ruekberg are not just great mood setters but excellent pop craftsmen. The two are very much the modern equivalent of Lennon and McCartney in that Swirsky has Paul‘s sense of romance and wistful optimism, while Ruekberg‘s got a slightly darker, sardonic edge. This synergy between darkness and light infuses the light-hearted musical vibe of the title track and “Picture” with creeping shadows and a few lumps in the throat full of sadness and regret. Happy, jangling guitars drive “Girl, Don’t,” but the pleas to extend the relationship belie that expected emotion. Similarly, “Sandreen” blends cheerful jangle, punchy guitars, and airy vocals with a story of love after the fact. Thankfully, there are also a few bursts where a sense of hope overwhelms all other impulses, particularly on the magnificent, sunny girl chasing sweetness of “On a Summer Day,” the charming “healthy relationship” tune “She Grows Where She’s Planted,” and the cheery acoustic clap and singalong of “You Do Something to Me.” Listeners could get so caught up in any one of these — which easily merit a hundred listens before moving to the next — that they might forget that there are 12 songs total. But the final three tracks are delightfully crisp as well, starting with the heavy-hearted/jingle-jangle Beatles-flavored “I Can’t Forget” and wrapping up with the laid-back melancholy of “Genevieve” and the powerful, introspective search for personal peace in “Running Away,” which features a gorgeous blend of guitar and piano. Swirsky makes a point in the press materials of saying that the Red Button reflects on the reality that “not everything is perfect and happy all the time” — but he forgot to mention that, in the 37 minutes of listening to As Far as Yesterday Goes from start to finish, everything truly is. It’s pure pop genius from start to finish.

AS FAR AS YESTERDAY GOES- (GRIMBLE RECORDS)- OK,. So it’s been four years since their smashing debut (SHE’S ABOUT TO CROSS MY MIND) and in that time one half of this duo, Seth Swirsky, released a solid solo record and of these 12 songs, 9 of them were co-written by Swirsky and his partner Mike Ruekberg (while Swirsky wrote the other 3 by his lonesome) and these two just seem like they were born to write music together, they just do. The band’s debut was met with favorable reviews across the board and I was one of them. What was not to like, sugary, upbeat Beatles-ish pop that gave you a few cavities upon the first listen. They tone down the upbeatness if just a bit on this sophomore effort and that’s ok and by saying that I like the debut a smidge more doesn’t mean I don’t like this one, it just means I like the debut a smidge more. First cut “Caught in the Middle” could have been on the debut , a pure rush while “As Far as Yesterday Goes” , an apology to a girl with the writer wracked with guilt, slows it way down. “Picture” has enough “bah bah bahs” to qualify as a Beach Boys-influenced cut while “Easier” sounds like a moodier McCartney. From there on out the songs waver between the two styles: chiming, fist-pumping pop and slower, moodier pieces. So there you have it, a more subdued than the debut but still goin’ strong. I hope it’s not four years for record #3.

Call it déjà vu. Or merely truth in advertising. After all, when the Red Button titles their sophomore set As Far As Yesterday Goes, the intent couldn’t be clearer. The Lennon-esque vocals, the cooing harmonies, the seductive slide guitar… even the handclapped rhythms – all of it suggests the early Merseyside sounds of the Beatles and their fellow Anglophile invaders — Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers and the Hollies among them. Given the Red Button’s Brit pop propensity, the similarities in sound are all but unmistakable.
Of course, this tact isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Bands as far back as Badfinger, the Raspberries and the Shoes have mined a very distinct niche simply by emulating the Fab Four’s charms. The approach is, of course, pre Pepper in origin, when innocence and idealism generally came to the fore. But you have to admire the Red Button’s unabashed exuberance and lack of inhibition. Their strategy was clear – mine this retro regimen and rekindle it as if the world was still waiting. And there’s no doubt about it – these cooing melodies still sound as fresh as ever. Try as one might to dismiss them as just another nod to nostalgia, songs like “Caught in the Middle,” “On a Summer Day” and “Girl, Don’t” are so irresistibly infectious, they get under the skin from the get go.

Of course, the bubblegum factor veers precipitously close at times, an unavoidable hazard that can befall even the most sophisticated power pop practitioner. Yet, that’s hardly worth the worry. Enthusiasm and authenticity provide reason enough to give the green light to the Red Button for this endeavor.

If album titles are any indication, the Red Button – Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg – are obsessed with time. To wit, 2007’s She’s About to Cross My Mind and its new follow-up, As Far As Yesterday Goes. Almost as much as they are with girls; they are a power pop/singer-songwriter duo, after all. Taking that temporal fascination into account, it’s no surprised that the band flipped forward a few calendar pages from its debut’s ‘60s popisms for the McCartney/Emitt Rhodes-style ‘70s singer-songwriter vibe on As Far As Yesterday Goes. Clearly indebted to the aforementioned musicians, as well as in league with current pop craftsmen with a Nixon-era pop bent like Matthew Sweet, Butch Walker, Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, and Brendan Benson, Swirsky and Ruekberg deliver a dozen perfectly shined pop gems. A little Rickenbacker jangle, some piano, handclaps, the on-call string section, it’s all here and all perfectly in its proper place.

Girls, as ever, are causing problems and these two are in their thrall. Whether they’re apologizing for “causing you pain” on the title track, pleading on “Girl, Don’t, fighting on “Easier”, being driven to distraction by an unrequited love on the clever “I Can’t Forget”, or simply falling for the kind of beautiful girl who always seems to find her way into this kind of band’s songs on “On a Summer Day”, the duo’s knack for churning out breezy, effortless pop is the only thing that rivals their hopeless romanticism.

A little more subdued sonically –- more piano and slower tempos than the Red Button’s charming debut (if you take nothing else from this review, go find that album’s world-conquering lead track, “Cruel Girl”)—As Far As Yesterday Goes still finds two masters operating at the peak of their powers. Only one question remains: Will the third album embrace cheesy ‘80s power ballads?

With their debut , She’s About To Cross My Mind, The Red Button produced what would’ve been one of the hippest records of the British Invasion — had it not been composed nearly 50 years afterward by two guys from California.

Nearly four years on now, the singing/songwriting duo of Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg has returned with The Red Button’s sophomore LP, As Far As Yesterday Goes (Grimble Records). Where its predecessor for the most part evoked a Merseybeat vibe, this effort reflects far broader influences, its melodic-pop foundation at times incorporating the quirky psychedelia of mid-to-late-‘60s Donovan and Harry Nilsson (“Picture,” “Genevieve”) along with some of the ornate textures of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys (“On A Summer Day”) and the finessed riffage of early-’70s George Harrison (“Easier”).

On some level maybe it’s tempting to question, if the Red Button’s retro sound so closely recalls that of any number of classic artists, why not then just stick with those? Swirsky and Ruekberg are no doubt aware of their influences and, in turn, of the comparisons they draw. But these guys are serious, and seriously talented musicians. Besides, instantly memorable melodies have never been easy for songwriters to come by; and the knack the Red Button display in having crafted the ones that grace As Far As Yesterday Goes cannot be underestimated and shouldn’t be overlooked. Highly recommended.

Double digit unemployment. Iraq. Afghanistan. Bailouts. Sex Scandals. Mind-numbingly bad reality TV. Every time you turn on the TV, open up the newspaper or fire up the latest app to keep you up on current events, it seems that only news can break your heart. Well saddle up losers, because it’s time for the antithesis of all that with the return of The Red Button and their shimmering new release, As Far As Yesterday Goes.

Singer-songwriters Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg’s first Red Button disc, 2007′s She’s About to Cross My Mind, was one the finest debuts of the last decade. If names like The Beatles, The Zombies, The Left Banke and Big Star mean something to you, you can place your order here. If compilations like Poptopia and Yellow Pills ring your bell, you won’t believe records like this still get made in 2011.

As Far As Yesterday Goes plays like an unwritten John Hughes movie, with looming heartbreak leavened by day-glo horns and impossibly sunny arrangements. Each chorus, each handclap and each strum screams pure pop. There are 60′s nods everywhere – the “I Should Have Known Better” harmonica riff that powers opener “Caught in The Middle” to euphoric heights, the heavenly, Turtle-y “ba-ba-bas” of “You Do Something to Me” and album thesis “On A Summer Day” that plays like a full on celebration of Small Faces ultra-modness crossed with the elegance of Bachrach/David classic.

Fitting closer “Running Away” uses its Cat Steven cadence to posit that “it’s never been harder to tune out the noise, the world just gets louder, can’t hear my own voice”, but ultimately the fight or flight is internal, everything else is just noise. And part of that loud world is The Red Button, whose timeless melodies cut through the noise to offer bite size bits of respite in the form of three minute paeans to help ease and understand the pain. They have my vote.

This entry is also a reminder to myself. I need to order the new The Red Button album asap. The debut album She’s About To Cross My Mind was a slice of 60′s influenced power pop heaven and the follow-up As Far As Yesterday Goes has been out for a while now. Based on the sound samples on The Red Button website, Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg have once again created a fabulous pop album.

by Christopher Arnott

Seth Swirsky of The Red Button holds up a copy of the vinyl version of the new Red Button record, As Far As Yesterday Goes.