Bay Area power pop-sters, with British influences. Very Blur-esque. The band sings with a slight British tilt, as well. Three guys. They say their lyrics are influenced by The Smiths. As album goes on, many songs have similar echo-y male vocals often not louder than the instrumental accompaniment. Kind of dreamy/spacey/psychedelic. Non-intrusive tracks, for the most part.
1)*“You’re Not The Only One” (2:47). Cool distorted intro, with glitchy, silent pauses. 0:23 richer soundscape: swishy scratches, bass, guitar. 0:56 switches to different type of sound, and again to more conventional power pop arrangement. Male vox. 1:59 FCC: “fuckin” (but slightly distorted).
2) “Will You Still Love Me When It’s Over?” (4:32). Slightly psychedelic. Intro: slower guitar chords and bass line until 0:30, when softer male vox start. Two part, overlapping vocal harmonies. Some gentle “aaahh’s.” End around 4:24.
3) “Strolling On Down To The Sea” (3:17). Mid-tempo and mellow. Intro: drawn-out guitar chords, with bass filling in rests. Then more focus on vox and higher-pitched simple percussion for about half the song, in alternating chunks. Some male vox back-up harmonies. End at 3:11.
4) “I Hope I Never Come Back” (4:05). Moodier, with dirtier guitar, slower. 0:10 drums in. 0:20 dronier male vox, almost monotonous and whiny/nasal-y (but not in a bad way). 1:14 interesting vocal arrangement. After 2:13 occasional slight spacey sound in background. End at 4:02.
5)*“Don’t See Anyway Out Of Here” (2:57). More upbeat melody, but not corny. Brighter guitar. Vox at 0:25, back to echo-ier and higher. End around 2:55.
6)*“Happy When You’re Not Around” (4:28). Quieter: male vox and slightly jangly/distorted electric acoustic guitar with tinny, very high distorted guitar. Vox quite prominent in this sound. At times reminds me of Oasis/Blur hybrid. End around 4:20.
7) “Pretty Girls” (3:12). Switches between dissonant chorus and poppier verses. Opens with drumstick beats and microphone overmodulation. Some yelling in the chorus. Otherwise, softer head-swaying verses. End at 3:08.
8)*“Sing To Me” (4:13). Spacily distorted and fuzzy guitar. 0:11 vox, with fuzzy guitar. 0:42, chorus gets echo-ier in vox, with slightly faster tempo. Pattern repeats for rest of song. Last minute of song is repetitive. End at 4:09.
9) “Slip Away” (3:24). Starts with “aaahh’s” and instruments immediately. Sometimes a hypnotic singing up the scale, or guitar imitating vocal melody. Also, “doo doo’s.”
10) “As Good As You Feel” (4:20). Jangly tambourine with the band. 0:14 the usual echo-y male vox, which in this song tends to slide notes in the same word at the end of a line. End at 4:17.
11)* “This Is Love” (3:54). Also quieter, vox not as echo-y. Acoustic chords dominate, with far-away sounding electric guitar occasionally. Vox at 0:17. Sort of reminds me of Badly Drawn Boy. End at 3:50.
12) Bonus Track (1:18). No sound until 0:22. Then low-distortion, mid-tempo poppy electric guitar chords with clap-like percussion. Starts fading out, quiet at 1:11.
-margot