Alright, this isn’t half bad but it definitely works better in a live setting, like when I saw them open for Neon Indian. Listening to their EP in my headphones the music comes off as being a tad bit contrived.
Probably if there is a song that does make me believe that “Oh, these guys might have something good going on” it would be the wonderful “Living in America”. The melody is positively infectious and just oozes out enthusiasm. It gives hope for those who think music should be played as loud as possible. And have no doubt, play this loud.
“Burn Bridges” offers some of the same spirit as the aforementioned song. That melody is great and imbued with pure sunshine. And the vocals are terrific, just loud enough in the mix to warm your heart.
Unfortunately, the rest of the EP is okay. It isn’t bad, but I sort of doze off at the end. They are such low energy; it is like a cool-down situation after all that initial energy. Add to that sort of a vanilla sound to the rest of it, and I’m a bit discouraged.
Hopefully when they come out with a full offering, they will have thwarted that problem. I’m hoping that this Massachusetts group gets its act together for that, since the first two songs are absolutely wonderful.