I’ve heard this disc and band praised on NPR quite a bit. Mind you, part of what the critics are raving about are the live shows. I can’t comment on the band’s live performances because I’ve yet to see them in that setting. What I can say is, in terms of this album, it’s a good one, but misses the greatness mark by quite a bit. Any one song here taken by itself is well worth the time to listen and enjoy. The problem is, there is too little variety on show. Too many of the cuts seems way too similar. That sort of wears heavy on the listener making it through the disc from beginning to end. The really sad part is, part of that could have been prevented. Later in the set there are a couple of songs back to back that both represent highlights of the disc and well-needed variety. If one of those had been moved back a few slots, the disc would have played better from beginning to end. Of course, the era of people listening to albums beginning to end is fading. That’s a shame because you can’t achieve any sort of depth or high art in one short song. But, bands like this one probably do well if you take their music one cut at a time.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2011  Volume 1 at lulu.com/strangesound.

The vocals lead this off with minor accompaniment. There’s sort of a jazzy nature to this early section, but it moves to a more standard balladic motif as it continues. There are some tasty retro keyboard sounds on the tune. It powers out to a bouncy kind of alternative pop rock sound with some jazz in the mix.