Labels: 6131 Records
Review by: james pacanowski
This band don’t really sound like they’re from California. They should really live somewhere on the East Coast, maybe somewhere like New Brunswick or somewhere in NY state. This would be out on a label like Kiss Of Death records and they’d have a pink couch video on If You Make It. Although the vocals might belong to someone a little further inland, like Ohio. Either way, what it adds up to is pleasantly snotty indie-rock. You can tell there’s a penchant for Jawbreaker, although they probably have more in common with someone more contemporary; For Serious This Time (particularly in the vocals) or Serious Geniuses are excellent frames of reference.
So big picture you’ve got a pretty good idea of what this sounds like, but it’s a little harder to maybe single out any outstanding details as the whole thing speeds through so quickly it barely has time to register. “Derailed” is a particular highlight, reminding me a little of Tin Armor with the choppy guitars, although no song really sticks around long enough to lodge itself. Closing track “Constant Headache” boasts the longest track length at just over 3 minutes, but about 10 seconds of fade-out is just about the only thing barely helping it squeak past. This isn’t a bad thing per se, as the thing goes down easier than iced tea, but as with so many bands of this ilk you wonder if this is just a joyride or whether there’s enough fuel in the tank to maybe get a little more mileage out of them.
Bad metaphors aside, this is enjoyable. With luck there’ll be a second full-length soon, preferably they’ll push that average track length up around another 20 seconds or so and start rolling with each idea that comes to their head rather than skipping impatiently to the next one. In the mean time, at least make it worth their while by checking this out.