Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
If modern rock seems to have sacrificed much of its forward motion for navel-gazing reassessments of its recent past, there are occasions when that back-to-the-future tack pays off with focused, compelling power. The second album by the psych-pop San Francisco quartet may draw on clear antecedents like Ride and My Bloody Valentine, but its tense sonic haze and the hypnotic lethargy of vocalist Chris Streng also variously evoke the urgent drama of early Psychedelic Furs and detached resignation of the Velvet Underground. Drenched in droning guitars and a production ethic where even the echoes seem to have echoes, it takes a forceful voice to pull off a line like "Everyone's talking about rock & roll/ But I just want to stay at home." But the band's dense, evocative textures can't disguise its impressively evolved sense of songwriting discipline, and the brave, self-referential worldview that allows Streng to commiserate on "Telephone" with a mom that's not only wiser than he, but considerably cooler. --Jerry McCulley
Love & Distortion,The Stratford 4,Jet Set Records,Alternative Pop/Rock,Indie Rock,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop,United States of America
Rock Music:
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