Sean Na-Na

Before he was the libidinous Har Mar Superstar, Sean Tillmann fronted a guitar-pop band called Sean Na Na, which was notable mostly for Tillmann's witty, venomous lyrics and big, Weezer-like guitar hooks. After a five-year hiatus, during which Tillman rode his sleazy, sexed-up Har Mar persona to cult stardom, Sean Na Na is back, with a record that might be the best thing Tillmann's ever done.

Family Trees or CoPe We Must is the Har Mar hangover record, filled with richly observed tales of Tillmann's drug-addled misadventures over the past five years. The record begins with the brilliant "We've Been Here Before," an improbably uptempo chronicle of Tillmann's return to the "frozen tundra" and "rusty cars" of his native Minnesota. From there, the songs turn darker, telling stories of speed-addicted lost souls ("Don't Look Me Sideways"), abusive relationships ("Can't Get a Spark"), cheating girlfriends ("Hairspray," which features a lovely harmony vocal from Maria Taylor), and even a partied-out Jesus ("Photo Booth"). But the music remains hooky throughout, filled with memorable guitar riffs and rousing choruses.

Family Trees sags in its second half, as Tillmann indulges his love of Cheap Trick riffage a little too much on overcooked rockers like "I'll Take it All" and "The Hunter." But the album rebounds with its closing track, a power ballad called "Straight Dope" that tells the story of a failed relationship in drug metaphors. It's harrowing and funny all at once, and should be required listening for anyone who's ever written off Sean Tillmann as a jokey poser instead of the real deal.

—Andy Hermann
06.07.07

Having spent a few years hamming it up as the breakdancing, sexalicious R&B god Har Mar Superstar, Sean Tillman returns to his indie alter ego Sean Na-Na on 2007's Family Trees. And as the title of the first track ("We've Been Here Before") might imply, it seems like we have been here before. This is another helping of hot-and-ready power pop in the same vein as the first two Sean Na-Na albums, all bright and bouncy college rock guitar riffs and punchy drums. And Tillman still uses his cartoony palette of power pop chords to serve as the outlandish backdrop for his acerbic stories. Like the previous Sean Na-Na releases, Family Trees introduces a wide array of messed up, depressed, underemployed, and generally unsettled characters; but no matter how many folks are thrown into the mix, the focus is ultimately on Tillman. Family Trees raises questions about parenthood ("Fold, Hit, or Stand"), self-image ("Photo Booth"), and settling down ("Help Me Up the Hill"), and in this way the album is very much a story about getting older. It's the testimony of an aging rocker trying to make his way through a tangle of societal pressures that encourage one to settle down, have a kid, and maybe even give up being a performer. But if, as the cover art implies, Tillman has one foot in the grave, it sounds like he isn't going down without a fight. "It's human nature," Tillman says, "but I'm not ready to be tied down." Family Trees is a complicated examination of mortality, delivered with a jesterly smirk -- both an embrace and a middle-finger salute. ~ Margaret Reges, Rovi