Review: The Features

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The Features
“The Beginning”
(Self-Released)

This debut EP from Sparta, Tennessee band The Features has hard indie rock bookends in the title track and the album closer “The Way It’s Meant to Be”.  The inspiration on these could be some Pere Ubu, but the two tracks are hard indie rock of a largely predictable flavor rarely interesting now that so much of it has been produced.  The four central tracks are refreshing throwbacks to early ’60s pop.  The Kinks-influenced “Bumble Bee” and the other bright, retro-pop gems are fun, smile-inducing examples of the legacy of the Elephant 6 collective sound.