Masters of Puppets 

• Courtesy Photo

The Mellons love the fact that they're signed to Earth Libraries, a label with a deep, varied roster of acts, all of them seemingly investigating ways to create and interesting music. Being part of a big collective, though, means that you sometimes have to wait for your number to be called. And this weekend, after some patient months, The Mellons can fully embrace and promote their album, Introducing... The Mellons!

The Salt Lake baroque pop band didn't skimp on time and effort during the album's creation. Nor did they on the introductory video, which features the band, a batch of wildly-creative (and affordably-produced) sets and ... puppets. "What a Time to Be Alive" is that lead single and video from Introducing..., and it displays all the fun and whimsy you could hope for in a song. (You can watch it on YouTube starting May 20.)

While many a band came out of the pandemic with songs that practically ache and bleed and touch on the tenderest parts of the human heart, The Mellons emerged with some elegant, tuneful, life-affirming stuff. The Mellons are Andrew Beck on keys and guitar; Rob Jepson on guitar and keys; Dennis Fuller on bass and horns; and Ian Francis on drums and percussion. All but Francis share lead vocal duties. That's in the live setting; in the studio, anyone can contribute anything at any time, with one of the tracks on Introducing... maxing out the 128 channels allowed by Pro Tools. Experimentation and layering are the rules. Even a cricket passing through Fuller's No. 9 studio, if caught, might be coerced to contribute a track.

Or to star in a video. We were talking about puppets, after all.

For the video for "What a Time to Be Alive," Beck took the lead on developing the concept. He wanted to play with imagery and storytelling devices from children's programming from the '70s. Creative, period pieces like Mr. Rogers and H.R. Pufnstuf were central to his ideas, and he'd "been looking for an opportunity to make something in a style that was perfect for the song's mood," [Ed: attribution needed]. "We designed, cut out, painted the sets ourselves. We created the art direction for it, then spent time looking for someone locally who does puppets."

They found that person. Shelby Rickart came in to direct the puppeteering, with another half-dozen puppeteers taking part. About a dozen friends came in to dance and act as extras, with all of it recorded in big, splashy color by director of photography and frequent collaborator Brennan Bateman.

The props were another place where Beck put in the time. As an example, just finding a clawfoot took months, he says. Eventually, one was found, moved, filmed and returned. He had to put down a deposit on the tub, to ensure that the piece would come back intact. Shelling out that money gave him a literal "what am I doing?" moment, though he's happy he saw the task through to completion.

Echoing that, Fuller says that "good artists have larger-than-life ideas. All of us collectively have those for our music, larger-than-life ideas for this sound. We find out how all these giant clouds fit together in the sky."

Beck and Jepson, a pair from Provo, often initiate things; Fuller adds the studio expertise; Francis is free to add more layering via his instruments, free to suggest options for others. In the case of "What a Time to Be Alive," Beck started the process with a bassline and drum beat, part of the idea coming to him, in classic form, while in the shower. Jepson took the baton. Eventually, Francis added his bit, in a single, 10-minute burst of exactitude.

Beck says, "Rob works differently than I do. I'll go dry for like three months, then I'll have a song. Rob, if he had time, could write a couple of songs a day. He's a really prolific dude. When I passed along this song, he wrote the verse and the rest of the song the next day, felt like five-minutes later. Everything fit perfectly and he rounded it out. It really wouldn't exist without his input." Another way of saying that "we're an assembly line."

Though it's doubtful this group will take too much of a break in creating new songs, the album they've been waiting to release since January is here. The lead video, too. They're both delightful.

The Mellons will appear on KCRL 90.9 FM's "Radioactive" with host Lara Jones on May 20 from 6-7 pm. On June 9, they'll appear with The Zissous at Metro Music Hall (615 W. 100 South) and then play The DLC at Quarters (5 E. 400 South) with David Turel on June 22. Visit themellonsmusic.com.