Tom Lynch

Nearly eighteen months after tragedy took the life of Chin Up Chin Up bassist Chris Saathoff in a hit-and run after he and his girlfriend exited the Empty Bottle, the band--Jeremy Bolen, Chris Dye, Greg Sharp and Nathan Snydacker--will release a new, self-titled record at the end of August, a playful retreat from past math-rock ventures and the exploration of pop that the group always threatened. "We're not totally away from math-rock," laughs Bolen as the band and I sit in Wicker Park's Small Bar. "We went more towards pop, but we often just make things complicated for ourselves."

The record, on Flameshovel, credits Saathoff as bassist as the remaining members tried to keep as many of his bass parts in place as possible. "I think [Saathoff's death] brought us together, more than anything else," Bolen says of the time after the accident. The band, which still has not found a permanent replacement--"too big of shoes to fill," says keyboardist Greg Sharp--jumped back into shows after only a brief hiatus, including benefit shows for the Christopher Saathoff Foundation. "The Saathoff family was so great after it happened," Sharp says. "They were just like, `You guys have to go on.' It was weird because all we were thinking about was them, and they were thinking about us, too. But, we feel that's what Chris would've wanted, for sure."

Chin Up Chin Up's new offering bases itself in a sort of melancholic optimism, in songs like "Collide the Tide" and a remix of "We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers," where the imperfect landscapes are quietly accepted, and grief is a fact of life. "It's certainly optimistic, a little hopeful," says Bolen. "I can't stand some of the whiny stuff out there. It's important to keep some of the optimism in music."

And, of course, the band name lends itself to that very thought. "It's just sort of a weird irony that it worked out that way," Sharp says of putting the band's title against the backdrop of both its music and its history. "It's kind of cool."

Chin Up Chin Up plays July 29 at the Empty Bottle, 1035 North Western, (773)276-3600.

(2005-07-26)

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