The Click Five

The title of The Click Five’s sophomore album, “MODERN MINDS AND PASTIMES,” perfectly sums up the quintet’s raison d’etre. The title is a nod to Ray Charles’s classic 1962 album, “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” and, as bassist Ethan Mentzer explains: “Our record is an eclectic mix of styles dating back to the ’60s and everything in between, so it was a cool way of summing up what we’re doing. As a band, we have ‘Modern Minds’ – we’re young and a product of our time – yet at the same time we’re old souls, so the word ‘Pastimes’ has an appropriate dual meaning.”

That dynamic duality is evident throughout the dozen power-pop gems that populate “MODERN MINDS AND PASTIMES.” “Jenny,” the first single, meshes musical buoyancy with a melancholy sentiment to create an irresistible ode. The blazing “Flipside” is a bouncy, gutsy, edgy rocker steeped in ’70s sensibilities and dynamics, in contrast to the warm but heart-rending ‘Mary Jane,’ a poignant ballad with soaring guitars guaranteed to have every lighter in the house held aloft.

While The Click Five may be “old souls,” there’s a brand-new member: 21-year-old singer/guitarist Kyle Patrick, who, like the rest of the band, attended Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music. Lead guitarist Joe Guese tells the tale: “Our new singer had to walk in the door with the right guitar, the right attitude, the right skills and voice – he had to ‘get it’ right off the bat. Kyle walked in and had all those elements. It was very natural; it wasn’t ‘American Idol’ tryouts, which is a path we could have gone down. We wanted it this way – to go back to where we all found one another, to Berklee. And sure enough, there he was.”