The PhiLL(er)



Here Is Now Cover
System and Station

Here Is Now
Latest Flame Records

Let me start out by getting off my chest that I don't like the singer's voice. I suspect this might be my problem more than anything, but it just strikes me as a somewhat annoying cross between Jeremy Enigk and Eddie Vedder, if such a thing is possible. Anyway, this album gets off to a flying start. The first song mixes angular riffs with some bluesy-but-rocking lead guitar, and the second song, the best on the album, manages to sound a bit like Dinosaur Jr., a bit like Built to Spill and a bit like a somewhat joyful Sunny Day Real Estate (picture that) without sounding ridiculous. It's an exciting song. With song number four, things begin to go a bit wrong, though. Suddenly this band loses its snarl and wants to sound like Radiohead. Things pick up again by track 8, but by the end of the album it does feel as though a lot of it was variations on a theme—a bit too much the same for comfort. And maybe I'm just trying to wish this band into the shape I want it to have, but couldn't they leave their synthesizers alone? Because when they stick to the guitars-only format, and when they don't let their songs drag on too long, they show that they know how to rock like champions. Which also makes me wish for a little more rawness in the production values; sometimes, but not always, it sounds like they've chopped too much of the highs and lows out, leaving it sounding a bit softer than it should. But maybe I'm being too picky. This album is well worth a listen, and fans of the genre will probably like it a lot.