Reviewed by Eric Saeger
This Minneapolis alt-rock quintet have an embarrassment of riches in that they can sound exactly like many popular acts of both the present and the not-crazily-distant past, such as first-album OK Go, Snow Patrol, Killers and stuff, not to mention singer/keys chick Kari Gray’s gold-medal-level karaoke of Dolores O’Riordan. There’s a dark side to that, of course, but I don’t have the time to investigate whether or not they’re a copy band and thus bust them as worthless magpies. Even if they are, though, the stuff on this record doesn’t appear to be half-cocked microwaving, it actually sounds melodically original, so the sky’s the limit, really, if they keep up the great songwriting and decide once and for all which vocalist they want at the front, Gray’s Cranberries shtick or the cookie-cutter boy band stylings of guitarist Justin Pierre. Not that either one tops the other – they both have radio-quality voices – but it’s a cold vicious boogeyman of a world out there, overly fond of keeping its pop culture simple.
Grade: A-
