Guitar-heavy power-pop that would be perfectly at home in 1991
If this album had been produced in 1991, you could have easily segued it amid The Posies, Matthew Sweet, Teenage Fanclub, Velvet Crush and Adam Schmitt. But written and recorded more than twenty years later, it’s a power pop album out of time. Mixed by producer Nick Raskulinecz, the album has the in-your-face loudness of Sugar, the dynamics of an arena rock band and just a touch of pop-metal in the harder riffs. The album’s catchy vocal melodies and tight harmonies are perfectly laid into a growling bed of guitar, bass and drums; about the only thing missing is the heartsick pining that only a 20-something can really nail. Seth Powell and Mike Pauley can sing about heartbreak, but it’s more reportorial than life threatening at this point in their lives. No matter, because the songs, vocals and playing carries the band to great heights, even without the crises of in-the-moment adolescence. [©2013 Hyperbolium] 