New Orleans indie trio Pope is a snapshot of the melodic, melancholic alternative rock landscape that many of those older siblings ushered us through growing up in the ‘90s. Alternating songwriters Alejandro Skalany (also of New Holland and Donovan Wolfington) and Matt Seferian (Buncho and Donovan Wolfington) have worked together in different projects since adolescence in Houston, TX. Upon arriving / reuniting in New Orleans with their longtime friend Atticus Lopez, they founded Pope. Their new album on Community Records, True Talent Champion, is their second full-length exhibition of their long-standing friendships, and integral shared love of iconic late ‘80s and early ‘90s bands like Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, and Guided By Voices.
Skalany and Seferian’s alternation as frontman offers a sort of cat’s cradle – two friends forming a picture together in yarn. Each song, an earworm ode to a feeling or experience ultimately forming a ten song assortment of what amuses, distresses, soothes, and excites. While their lyrics can arrive as poetically abstract, Lopez’s drumming keeps Pope focused on the alt rock craft at hand and unintrusively frames every croon, shout, hook, rise, and fall with room for the occasional touch of grunge, indie pop, and country. Released on Community & Funeral Sounds Records.