Positive No – “Pocket Park” (Stereogum Premiere)
Richmond, VA quartet Positive No’s debut EP, Via Florum (“Through Flowers,” more or less) has been a long time coming. Shortly after forming in 2011, frontwoman Tracy Wilson was hit by a car, resulting in a serious concussion, memory problems, and brain trauma. She recovered, fortunately, and the band wrote and recorded Florum earlier this year — a record that would feel triumphant even if you knew nothing about the backstory. And you can hear the opening track, “Pocket Park,” now.
The hook on Positive No’s “Pocket Park” is just four simple notes, the sort of thing someone might come up when they were playing around with a guitar for the first time. It’s so basic that you might roll your eyes if you heard it in another song — but this isn’t any other song, and wrapped around those four perfect notes is a quartet who are not screwing around. The feedback and distortion are balanced out by Wilson’s warm, sprightly voice, while that infectious guitar riff flows throughout. “Pocket Park” is a tribute to a cement park that has since been turned into a garden by community members, which sounds about right for a song that will definitely make your rainy day a little sunnier.