Squirrel Nut Zippers: Perennial Favorites

The inevitable neo-swing backlash is underway, as critics and fans alike are tiring of the genre's smug scenesterism, its fadlike nature, and the rash of cash-in compilations. For the most part, the backlash is deserved. Just don't blame North Carolina's Squirrel Nut Zippers: The band's third album, Perennial Favorites, may occasionally stoop to camp, but it's all wrapped up in deliriously bouncy, legitimate-sounding hot jazz. Too much modern-day swing music is strangely joyless, the work of rich-kid poseurs latching onto a scene rife with fill-in-the-blanks nonsense about Zoot Suits and gangsters and martinis. But Squirrel Nut Zippers' records, this one included, sound like the work of a bunch of fun-loving geeks who have always devoured and appreciated old jazz and swing records. Perennial Favorites dabbles in everything from big-band swing to jazz crooning to klezmer, all the while revolving vocalists, occasionally getting political ("Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter"), and resisting the temptation to fall back on easy covers. That doesn't mean the album does much beyond rehashing the sounds of hallowed legends from Billie Holliday on—and, of course, it's not exactly reinventing the formula heard on its predecessors—but it rehashes in a way that's musically accomplished, respectful of history, refreshingly diverse, and, above all, a lot of fun. Squirrel Nut Zippers was among the first to find success in swing; here's hoping it's among the last bands left standing.