Hellogoodbye Hellogoodbye Lyrics

Ask the members of HelloGoodbye how they chose the band's name, and they'll tell you straight up. It's not about the Beatles. It's not about greetings and farewells. Rather, says lead singer Forrest Kline, "Screech said it in the Hawaii episode of Saved by the Bell." So much for deep meaning. Turns out HelloGoodbye has one mission: make great music and have as much fun as possible doing it. Judging by their new self-titled Drive-Thru Records debut EP, HelloGoodbye is right on target.

Rooted in tight melodies and winning arrangements, the five songs on the EP show a sophistication beyond the band's do-it-yourself m.o. Forrest Kline sings with disarming joy, while keyboardist Jesse Kurvik adds light and humor. "I go for old Nintendo," he says with a laugh. "In terms of synth sounds, we want kitschy and cheesy."

Though only five songs long, the EP shows off the band's versatility. "Call and Return" is a pop jewel in the classic style, oddly tender but relentlessly upbeat. The harder-rocking "Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn" is a surprisingly perceptive break-up song ("Turn down the beating of my heart/mark the places in my book/with photographs we never took"), while the fragile "Bonnie Taylor Shakedown 2k," just may be the first song to pay simultaneous homage to "Louie Louie" and "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." "Jesse Buy Nothing (Go to Prom Anyways)" is a refreshing blast of musical insanity with a little history attached. "Jesse needed to ask a girl to the prom," says Forrest. "We figured a song was the best way to go, so we made the song in my house, made a nice little package for it and then I delivered it via 'hellogoodbye express mail,' i.e., me dressed in beige shorts and a button down." The EP ends on a sour-sweet note with the pop-rock (a la Weezer) ballad "Dear Jamie...Sincerely Me," expressing the impermanence of relationships.