Voxtrot: Voxtrot : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Over the past two years, this Austin, Texas, quintet built significant blog buzz with a couple of EPs and some hot South by Southwest shows. The band's debut LP offers more manna for indie kids: tuneful stuff with a fluid, detailed guitar sound and daubs of Eighties Brit pop and Leonard Cohen. Outfitted with Ramesh Srivastava's sweet melodies, cuts like the sorta swishy piano-and-strings-laden "Steven" are well-manicured pop -- slightly more openhearted counterparts to the Shins' hypermelodic musings. Throughout, though, Srivastava's earnest come-ons are a little annoying, or at least less than compelling -- even the most harmonious tunes feel a bit lightweight, and he cheeses out a little on songs like the Belle and Sebastian rip "The Future, Pt. 1" -- and tracks like "Easy" are indie rockers that slide right past you. In short, a likable disc -- but no reason to get hot and bothered.