John

The Arts Fuse describes The Bad Pilot, the 2019 album by John Powhida International Airport (winners of the 2011 Rock & Roll Rumble and multiple Boston Music Award nominees), as “clearly rooted in the 1970s — but that decade was nothing if not kaleidoscopic … the sound and feel of everything from Philly soul to new wave, hard rock, funk, and progressive rock.” JPIA’s recent release “Michael 3 O’Clock” continues that trend, incorporating kaleidoscopic effects on the video in addition to the melange of styles on the track.

Powhida relates some of the tune’s backstory: “I saw Michael Quercio and the 3 O’Clock Band open for REM. A direct quote from him to a heckler: ‘REM will be out in a second. Suck on this, honey.’ Trailblazers of the Paisley Underground scene with The Bangles and others … Prince was a fan and held his hand in a meeting, then signed them to Paisley Park.” AllMusic details that The 3 O’Clock “incorporated the chiming guitars of the Byrds and the Beatles into their pop songs with a psychedelic bent, and the clothes to match.” While this track centers the sheen of Philly Soul, it’s appropriately completed by a gilded paisley frame, including the filigree of Peter Moore’s artful backup vocal and string arrangement.

The ballads of the Philly Soul canon certainly never shied away from melancholy. Instead, they stared the emotion down bravely while featuring ecstatically gorgeous arrangements and harmonies — providing incentive for the listener to stick around instead of running back to bubble-gum pop. Meanwhile, Powhida has the guts to stare down his influences and a potentially pivotal missed connection while taking us along for the ride. A capsule review on Powhida’s Bandcamp page lauds the tune’s mix of “admiration, resentment, and a little heartbreak” — not bad for a four-minute narrative.

After the tune opens with a guitar hook over a mysterious suspended chord, the groove starts the track in earnest at 0:09 in an uncomplicated A major. The verse then shifts to a second section in C major at 0:37. The chorus, in E minor, admittedly owes a huge melodic debt to the chorus of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything,” but mixes in plenty of Powhida’s trademark wit — so clever that Quercio reportedly couldn’t stay mad for long, even after being artfully skewered:

SuperCaliforniaFragileDiva what goes on inside your head? / PsychoRelicDandyLiar Michael 3 o’Clock it’s time for bed

Verse 2 and Chorus 2 continue the pattern, followed by a beautifully contrasting bridge, starting with a surprising palate-cleansing sidebar (C major) at 1:56, then a jump to C# minor at 1:59. At 2:44, JPo delivers one final double-sided homage before his pitch glissandos downward like an anchor falling to the bottom of a pond — making the modulation upward to E minor for the final wall-of-sound choruses all the more massive. After a minor-key echo of The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” at the start of the outro, we somehow end this unlikely travelogue where we began, shifting back to A major and a reprise of the opening hook at 3:51.