The Atari Star

Aniseed

(Johann's Face)

Record Review by Marcel Feldmar

Mellow almost sparkling pop drifts out, smooth and steady. If I was going for the “judge a book by its cover” thing, I would have gone for some indie emo rock, possibly mathy and complicated beats, but instead I’m greeted by this not quite shoegaze, not quite New Wave, not quite Britpop sound. It’s got everything you need for some real sharp pop songs… the vocals, the guitars, bass, drums, backing vocals, and of course a Hammond B3 organ… but for some reason the songs never quite push it over the edge.It’s not a bad thing – there are some wonderful melodies moving around, and by the time the third song hits, there are also some elements of not quite alt.country, not quite Americana moving into the mix. The lyrics are sad, the music is melancholic, and I want to drive the highways drinking cheap beer at random diners trying to forget where I came from. Then song number 4 picks it up and moves closer to a smile… a new wave artsy rhythm that breaks into a nice pop punk guitar riff that gets accentuated by handclaps. You can’t go wrong with handclaps in a pop song, but the thing here is that when the band starts rocking out, the vocals get stronger, and you can hear where this band should have been all along. Marc Ruvalo’s vocals careen smoothly over the edges of the guitar, moving over the drive thud of the bass and the Talking Head drum beat, calling to mind Eric Matthews, a more straightforward Jeremy Enigk, and a much more delicate Robert Pollard. There are definite hints here calling out to bands like Death Cab For Cutie and the Decemberists, and personally, I think they should stop that and concentrate on going back to that sharp pop rock that got me all happy when I listened to their song “Double Predestination”. That song…. I don’t know. It just hit me good.