This California-based band takes an aggressive approach to indie rock. With catchy vocals and guitar driving a violent jangle home. The drummer has not figured out he is not in a hardcore band yet, but it works pretty well to balance things out. By the second song, they are beginning to settle into more of a Minus the Bear thing just without all the mathy riffs. Kinda of what got filled as emo in the late 90s.It is not as hooky as the first song which is the bar with which this band is going to be measured.
"Fortress:" further points the finger in the Minus the Bear, direction by cruising with some of the grace they once had in their early work, but without the fretboard gymnastics."Beacon House" is more melodic and the closest they are probably going to come to a ballad not that I mind, but it jangles along with not as much direction. There is more rock in the backbone of "Star 9200". They go into more jangling slacker rock with "Big Question". "Where's Kevin?" is perhaps more forgettable. They get into some of the angular turnarounds on "Good Neighbors". It works well enough not going to say it is the album's best song. The song after this finds the guitarists going for it more to capture the Minus the Bear mood. Perhaps I just need to check and see if Minus the Bear has anything in the works.
"Night Swim" is that ballad they hinted at. It also reminds me how much the drummer has chilled out since the first song. On the last song, he goes for it more and puts in some sweat equity. It 's an energetic bopper of a song, though much like the rest of the album does not reinvent the wheel. I will give this album an 8.5, it took me back to an era of music I enjoyed, I wish they polished it with their own spit a little more but it works for what it is. Don't believe anyone who compares these guys to Nothing there is nothing shoegaze about this.
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