There’s something about a well-turned pop song that gets you every time. You start catching the melody and nodding your head to the hook, and three minutes later you notice that the world suddenly looks like a better place. That’s just the reaction that singer/writer and multi-instrumentalist Emeen Zarookian is looking for under his current guise of Spirit Kid. Sporting ten sharp and beautifully produced tunes it aims to hit you in the same magic place where he got hit by his British Invasion heroes. And in the grand tradition of McCartney, Prince, Rundgren and Emmitt Rhodes, this is a true solo effort on which he wrote, sang and played every note. “The name kind of symbolizes a childlike wonder and a positive outlook on life, which is something I try not to let go of,” he says. “I’ve seen too much negative energy ruin different kinds of relationships, and I’m looking to push in the other direction.” A pop obsessive from a young age, he put aside his classical piano studies and picked up a guitar on the day he heard the Beatles do “Twist & Shout.” Playing an eighth-grade talent show wasn’t quite the same as joining the Beatles, but it was a start; and that formative outfit led to a slightly less formative one that got him into the Boston clubs while he was still in high school. By the time began studying audio production at Emerson College, Emeen was starting to live out his pop dreams. He was bassist and co-singer in the Sterns, whose second album Sinners Stick Together was hailed by All Music Guide as “a pop masterpiece whose music is as enticing as its themes are thought-provoking.” Meanwhile he also played and toured with Elizabeth & the Catapult and Eli Paperboy Reed & the True Loves (both signed to major labels), worked audio production for music games (including one featuring a certain band from Liverpool), landed an original song in Showtime’s hit comedy Weeds, and generally made music wherever possible. Gone solo as Spirit Kid, he tones down the Sterns’ new-wave stylings in favor of a more classic pop approach—inspired as much by Boston-area friends as by the longtime British Invasion heroes. “If you ask me to name the bands whose entire catalogues I’ve obsessed over, it would have to be the Beatles including their solo careers, the Kinks, the Zombies, the Beach Boys and ELO. But at the same time I’m definitely influenced by friends who are musicians and am constantly blown away by how talented they really are. It’s definitely a huge kick in the butt, but a love-filled kick.” The music boasts a similar blend of warmth and energy, from the Buddy Holly bounce on “My Imagination” through Wilson-esque harmonies and garage fuzztones to the psychedelic-soul influenced “Flytrap”. He developed those songs over three years in basements, attics, bedrooms, bathrooms, practice spaces where metal bands were wailing next door—in short, just about anywhere. When the songs were finally whipped into shape he took them to Jack Younger at Basement 247, which was where a few years’ worth of stolen moments turned into a cohesive album. “We decided to go heavily into analog in the mixing, running everything through vintage gear. Jack knew the aesthetic I was looking for, which is a lo-fi pop thing influenced by all those bands I love.” Sound like one of those debut albums that you spend your whole life getting ready to make? Probably so. But you don’t need to think about that—Just give Spirit Kid three minutes and see if your day doesn’t look up. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.