The Thrills: So Much For The City : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The Thrills are five young dubliners with an affinity for American culture -- specifically Seventies country folk and the easygoing tunefulness of classic California pop. So Much for the City, their debut, was recorded during a four-month sojourn in San Diego, and besides introducing them to the Golden State's coastline (Hollywood, Big Sur and Santa Cruz all figure in song titles), their stay seems to have helped the Thrills create the perfect soundtrack for staring at sunsets. Over the melancholy roots-rock grooves of "Deckchairs and Cigarettes" and "Just Travelling Through," singer Conor Deasy waxes nostalgic in an endearing indie-boy whine, sounding like both a tourist fascinated with his surroundings and a displaced, homesick wanderer. So Much for the City is dragged down by a handful of meandering slow songs, but a group of Cali-bred beach bums with an armload of Neil Young records couldn't have done much better -- and that's a compliment.

CHRISTIAN HOARD
(RS 936, November 27, 2003)