In 1987, some older high school friends took me along on their highway trek to Main Street Records in Northampton for the first time. On the ride home, I was in the back seat happily perusing the cover art of the album I bought, the self-titled debut of They Might Be Giants.
“You LIKE that stuff?” I looked up to see my friend, who was driving at the time, questioning me with a confused sneer on his face. Yes! Yes sir, I do! And still do.
And so do countless fans all around the globe here in 2018. They Might Be Giants, the quirky and ever-inspired musical duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, began as a little underground band (electric guitar, accordion, drum machine) playing small spaces in NYC, but the prolific group’s playful, catchy and clever songs have continued to strike grander chords with growing audiences.
They Might Be Giants will play two full sets at Northampton’s Academy of Music on Thursday at 8 p.m.
The duo have put out more than 20 records (including a string of acclaimed children’s albums), and their brand-new one is “I Like Fun,” another strong outing that opens with a bright and swingy stomper that’s as close to gospel as the guys have ever gotten. And it’s called “Let’s Get This Over With.”
Sings John Linnell: “Even when you're out of work you still have a job to do / Even when you don't know what it is, your job knows what it is / What it is is, it's coming to get you / I’m talking to myself even when I'm saying ‘you.’ ”
It’s one of their many upbeat songs with a sense of looming doom, and “I Like Fun” might be an unofficial concept record about dark, dark times. The surface sounds like a party, but the lyrics can get seriously chilling, like the apocalyptic couplets found in the disco-pulsing “Push Back the Hands” (“Broken glass is glittering like diamonds / Can’t hear yourself thinking over the sirens.”)
TMBG has trumpet player Curt Ramm along for this tour and will be breaking out some not-oft-heard older songs to go with the new material and all-time favorites like “Don’t Let’s Start,” “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” “Particle Man” and “Birdhouse In Your Soul.” Very recommended! (Tickets were still available at press time, though the majority of shows on this leg of their tour have sold out, so don’t delay.)