Sunny Side Up

Egg is the creation of LA-based Jeff Fuller who wrote some songs with his young daughter Annabella, wrote some more songs himself, and recruited some other moms and dads to record the songs for an album. Reading over that description might not necessarily fill you with hope for the album -- good intentions and enthusiasm being a poor substitute for, you know, musical talent and songwriting skills -- but luckily their debut album Sunny Side Up has enough of that musical talent and songwriting skills to make it a fun listen. The band mentions Cake as one of their musical reference points, and I can hear that, at least in the somewhat spare arrangements that rely a lot on drums and, on a couple tracks, trumpet. But I hear more of a West Coast Brady Rymer. It's roots-rock mixed with a little country and with a more sunny (album title pun unintended), wide-open feel. The album has a loosey-goosey sound (I mean that as a compliment here) and it serves as an appealing musical background for lyrics that are squarely aimed at the preschool set. In part this probably partially reflects the influence of Fuller's daughter, but it's nice to hear songs about shuffling down the hall (the angular 'Flip Flops') or summer ('Summer Today') that retain that kid's perspective. 'Hiccups' is a goofy, make-the-kids-laugh song, while the last two songs ('Airplane' and 'Goodnight') are tender ballads. Kids ages 3 through 7 are most likely to enjoy the songs here. You can hear sound clips from the 26-minute album at it's CD Baby page. Egg's Sunny Side Up will have no small appeal to families who prefer their kids music (if not their eggs) a little bit scrambled. Recommended. Egg, the band, is exactly what Jeff Fuller had in mind when he conjured it up. "We have all been in bands ranging in all musical genres, but playing music for kiddos is more fun than any of us has ever had! I am inspired daily by my two children who see life so beautifully and simply. Annabella is five years old and is constantly showing me how funny and beautiful the little things are. Just watching her play with a rolly polly bug blows me away."