Apex Manor
The Year Of Magical Drinking
Merge
2011
Rating: 7 Magic Hat beers out of 10
A friend had a stack of free CDs on his table last I visited him, and I grabbed this Apex Manor disc on a whim figuring it's on Merge, and worst case scenario it would at least be an okay album. I can't think of the last time Merge put out anything that was actually bad. I didn't know shit about this band but it turns out it's the new outfit for the man behind the Broken West, Ross Flournoy. And I liked that act pretty well, but I find myself much more drawn to Apex Manor.
Not that the music is all that terribly different between the two bands - it's still very much a clean pop sound, not overly dependent on hooks and sing-a-long verses. It is what I think of as "adult pop", making me think of Nada Surf or Teenage Fanclub or some of Spoon's offerings. Not that Apex Manor really sounds like any of those bands, they just all attend the same social functions and have a lot of friends in common. Every track on this record feels like an old friend the first time you listen to it, sounding like everyone and no one all at once. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who will find this a bit boring, but straight forward pop rock done this well sounds pretty good to these ears.
No comments:
Post a Comment