Return to Sender
"The Grand Exposure" CD
Five One, Inc.
Genre: indie rock, rock
Provo, Utah
Oct 30, 2008 |
Utah's Return to Sender is a slick rock band in love with
fast-paced rhythms and angular guitar lines. This is an excitable
record that is perhaps a bit too glossed up, but with an energy level
akin to The Rye Coalition, Atombombpocketknife, and
At The Drive-In, RtS aren't all bad. The Grand Exposure's
forty two minutes end up working against it, as this type of
high-urgency music is best absorbed in
smaller doses. Still, the band clues into some promising things here.
Jumpy "The Fast Track" is devilishly fun in all
its exuberance, while "Perspective" boasts a wicked little
chorus. Meanwhile, "This is a Nation" is the album's epic - a varied
and fun rock song with a dynamic energy. Of course, the news isn't
uniformly great. "X_Men" has a nice quiet little guitar bit but is
ultimately nothing more than screamy
alt-rock melodrama, while "Spit Me Out" and "Lights Out" seem targeted
at the barely pubescent Fallout Boy democratic. On the other
hand, "Dutch/Boyz/Dance/Floor" is an adorable attempt at homing in on
the hipster demographic, but its attempt at stylish dance-punk is
annoyingly serviceable and seemingly exploitative.
It is evident that Return to Sender's best songs are those
that rapidly shift from phase to phase. These folks are talented
musicians, and The Grand Exposure's better
tracks are epic and memorable. Their urgency can become a tad
overwhelming over these forty-two minutes, but when
listened to in smaller increments they aren't half bad. Still,
if this record had pared down its less impressive moments, it would
have been a lot more enjoyable.
RtS's myspace
73%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 11 tracks, distributed by
the
label,
released Aug 5, 2008] |
