If local musicians want to learn about work ethic, take a look here. Jeff Suszczynski and his Rochester/Buffalo-based Gifted Children brand has been at it for a decade and claim to have logged 1,300 songs! In 2008 alone, they have had a staggering 10 releases, eight of which are on Suszczynski’s own indie label, Tinhorn Planet.

An important caveat to a powerful work ethic, however, is how all that quantity measures in quality. Judging by what they’ve released, the Gifted Children have rarely bowed in that department, either. It’s fair to say the Gifted Children owe a nod to St. Robert Pollard and the Sacred Heart of Guided by Voices. The comparison obtains not only for sheer output but also for the tonic and twisted chaser approach of crossing stadium rock, psychedelia, Anglo-pop, and stripped-down, acoustic singer/songwriter fare: sometimes in three-minute doses, other times in a compact 30 seconds. Also like Pollard, Suszczynski rarely finds a melody he doesn’t like and he usually comes across great ones. The Gifted Children might actually have slight edge over GBV with Always Stay Sweet, in that this record manages a terrifically broad textural sprawl of sonic elements that Pollard’s old band would not have even attempted. Along with fellow Grand Island native Bill Trautman and a host of others, Suszczynski has completed a 12-song album that feels like an epic in just 20 minutes. They can turn deftly from the dark riffage of a song like “How Important the Local Creek” to the title track, a haunting, grandiose song, echoing the bombast of the best of English, 1980s post new wave like Echo and the Bunnymen and the Cure. “Ankle Socks”—one of Trautman’s numbers—is a clipped glance of dream pop bolstered near its all-too-quick finish with a skuzzy drum machine beat. “A Forest” finds Suszczynski’s voice and acoustic guitar swaddled in a cello and clarinet, resulting in a wonderful bit of baroque folk. “Meeting the Queen of Great Bliss” has the programmed elegance of Boards of Canada with twinges of 1970s prog rock.

There’s still three months left in this year, Gifted Children. We know what you can do and are expecting at least another three or four records as good as this one…

—donny kutzbach

The Gifted Children celebrate the release of Always Stay Sweet this Saturday with a show at Nietzsche’s this Saturday, October 4, with the Stay Lows and the Vision Serpents.