Labels: TVT
Review by: Ian Scanlon
This act is one of those ones that, I’d heard of, and just thought, MEH. New York, shoegazing, the strokes but more VU… those kind of things.. None of which excite me a great deal.. and the opening track here nearly had me turning off. If opening your album with a dull ass instrumental when you are actually a fairly tuneful dreamy indie pop band seems like a bad move, well then, it is! In fact the rest of this album cribs nicely from a bunch of bands that I think are well worth nicking from. Upbeat Yo La Tengo strummings like “anecdote” have great melodies and are full of la’s and soppy “someone like you will never be lonely” lyrics (although undercut by the last line saying “it’s not true”. In a way this reminds me alot of what the American Analog Set do, but with a bunch of youthful energy and some more standard issue rock guitar… which isn’t neccesarily a bad thing. The guys voice does lose me a bit, I doubt if I could pick it out in a line up of indie guy singers… it’s could be the dude from spoon/ ira kaplan/ a billion other people, but these are “nice” tunes. The plinky plonk “waiting for the man” pianos and slide guitar are nice touches which outweigh (just) the occasional lame shoegaze moments. One to buy if you fancy some Yo La Tengo style indie action and you see it secondhand for £2!