The Meadows : The Meadows : Review : Rolling Stone

Fronting the likes of the Thrill Pillows, Blue Sky Roadster and Moontower, Todd Herfindal and Kevin Houlihan have been prettying up San Francisco and Los Angeles clubs for more than a decade. While rock stardom has not yet shined upon them, it's no matter: Their jangle-guitar anthems and buoyant vocal harmonies shimmer all by themselves. As the Meadows, the dueling singer-songwriters serve up their best batch yet -- twelve tracks steeped in the acoustic soul of Big Star and sprinkled with the arena-rock dust of Coldplay. Triumphant choruses like "We can be anything" ("Been So Long") and "Today will be the brightest day" ("Turn It Around") continually burst out of melancholy verses and reveal our narrators to be true believers in the power of the perfect rock song. No matter what they call themselves, here's hoping they keep the faith.