Hometowns

Neutral Milk Hotel impersonators with an even greater tendency to glossy pop. Conor Oberst’s label picked up this buzz band from Canada, known as a great live act, and one of Canada’s best unsigned groups. This is a little too ‘indie pop’ for me, but maybe someone will like it. They are Neutral Milk Hotel idolizers with an inclination to synthesizers and flashy dance pop. The record sounds a little hollow; only the drumming sounds particularly impressive (but usually distracts a bit) while a lot of the instrumentation sounds thin. Vocals are rough-edged wails that also demonstrate the Mangum fixation. A few good songs in here anyway. No FCCs.

1. Melancholy electro dance indie pop with strained vocals, glock, cello comes in, beat gets dancier, slows down to strum. (3:28)
2. Folk strum augmented by big beat, handclaps, sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel. (1:54)
3. Wavering vocals with big percussion, electric strumfest. (2:13)
4. More flashy drumming, sounds like 1… more sad electro indie pop, backing female vocals, dramatic strings. (2:32)
5. Another fast tempo percussion fest, more strummy, backing female ooohs and ahhs. (2:41)
6. Slower but drums are as prominent and stuttery as ever, tune is more simplistic, easy to like. (2:48)
*7. Sounds western, dark, big percussion comes in, horns come in and this is definitely a NMH moment but it’s also fantastic. (2:55)
8. Dancy electro-pop with synth fixation, ends with dramatic a capella and dark lyrics. (3:25)
9. Slower, mellow, a respite from the rest of the blistering pacing, simplistic piano lightly jingles along acoustic strumming. (3:24)
10. Electro intro with cello, arpeggiating guitars, more subdued percussion, tambourine. (3:44)
11. Great brief pop song, intense, short, dynamic. (1:52)
*12. Apparently a live favorite, catchy guitar and vocal line, drums build up. (3:49)
13. Another one-note synthline builds electro indie pop. (2:36)