PAVEMENT was the first thing that came to mind when I put this one on. The second song sounds like the STROKES. That’s basically this record in a nutshell; a ’90’s indie rock amalgamation without a modicum of originality. The band plays well, and the production is great, but I can’t get past how safe and unoriginal it comes across. I won’t be coming back to this one.
I was driving around with my wife the other day, listening to a playlist of my MRR review assignments, when this release came on. It followed up the latest album from FEN FEN, and the transition from tight, unhinged hardcore punk to languid power pop apparently got my wife’s attention, because she blurted out “What is this? It sounds like the STROKES.” She wasn’t wrong. The two tracks on this Atlanta four-piece’s debut don’t sound a million miles away from what you got on Is This It. Maybe mix that with an extremely sanitized version of the EXPLODING HEARTS, and you’ll probably get a good enough picture. In any event, it’s much less contrived-sounding than anything you’d associate with the indie sleaze set, and these are two genuinely catchy numbers. I don’t know that I’ll be dipping back into this, but I’d still be interested to see where they take things.
