Cari Clara
““Miniature American Model Society””
(Tiberius Records)
Something about this band makes me want to take a nap. The first two tracks don’t do anything for me-with soft, melodic background accompanied by whiny, Britpop-esque vocalizations. “Pulse” is a bit of an improvement-a tinge more angst, but still nothing spectacular. The rest of the album has a mostly mellow, going-through-the-motions feel. Although it does sound like it’s Britpop-inspired, it never steps into the emotional and powerful realm of Radiohead territory. Things peak toward the end of the album with “Release Me” and “We’re the Pollution” offering some redeeming qualities. Instead this music keeps its distance from the pure raw emotion of bands they are trying to be like Coldplay and Travis-instead there are sleepy, wispy light tunes-breathy male vocalizations over soft, bouncing synthesizers or calm guitars. It puts me to bed when it should be jarring. And I don’t think that’s what the reaction they wanted to achieve.
