When we last heard from Desmond Reed, he’d just dropped the gobsmackingly phenomenal Guinea Pigs EP on us, not to mention a few scattered MySpace tracks under his electric psuedonym The Mixed Creemees. Guinea Pigs was a quickie blast of innocent twee pop blessed with more hooks than a bait and tackle shop, and we played the heck out of it here at RetroLowFi HQ. The question was… can this young man keep up the pop goodness, or was his first 3-inch CD a fluke?

Well, after listening to his newly released Babysitters Club EP, I’m happy to confirm that all the creamy pop goodness he’s previously delivered may just be a precursor of things to come. Let’s take a look at each Babysitters track individually, shall we?

“The Babysitters Club” - A cute little ode to, well… what might be the Babysitters Club from the classic young adult book series, or hell, maybe Desmond really is a member of one in his hometown of Orange, Massachusetts. There’s a great double-time “na-na-na” bridge leading into a fun little phone cobersation arranging what time he’ll be at the next meeting. You know, because he has homework to do.

“When I Met Michelle” - This easy-breezy tune seems to be at least partly autobiographical, considering the MySpace message that mentioned that all copies of the Babysitters Club EP were handmade by “Desmond and Michelle”. So all of the lines about watching three seasons of Are You Afraid Of The Dark and eventually ending up together are probably pretty close to Reed’s heart. It’s this kind of earnest, heart-on-his-sleeve candor that made us fall in love with Desmond’s record in the first place, so it’s nice to see the trend continuing on this EP.

“Cabin Fever” - This one is all about being cooped up in the house and needing a friend or two to hang out with. Desmond goes through the friends that didn’t answer the phone when he called, blaming it on their caller ID, but he still makes room for an uber-catchy whistling break. It’s a sort of melancholy ending to the release, but it’s a nice reminder that as a pop writer, Reed knows that it can’t all be roses and kittens farting glitter all of the time. If nothing else, “Cabin Fever” is a testament to the depth of pop hooks Reed is capable of and why we regard him so highly here at RetroLowFi.

The verdict is in: The Babysitters Club EP is every bit as good as his debut, and now our mouths are collectively watering for a full-length release. Or maybe even a tour. These simple guitar/voice songs are begging to be turned into crowd sing-alongs, and really… even though we tell you about a ton of lo-fi artists on this website that we truly do think the world of… Desmond Reed has something really, really special going on. A billion thumbs up!

Desmond Reed - When I Met Michelle.mp3

Order your copy of The Babysitters Club EP from cass_et_tape_records. Seriously, it only costs a buck!
Check out Desmond Reed’s MySpace page for more fun!
And you can stream the title track of the new EP on the cass_et_tape_records MySpace page!