Combining the retro groove of The Strokes, the new wave drive of The Bravery, and the emotions of Counting Crows, Last American Buffalo is a mixed drink for the Alternative palate. Book ended by its best, and most varied, efforts, "Breaking Up Mine" pops off at a brick-less Ben Folds pace. It is the rocked out bell bottom glossed out on Teen Throb magazine that cool kids secretly admire. I think Lydia Lunch once talked about how new bands are so stupid because they try to retread sounds (like it's cool), when they weren't even the cool songs in the first place. Marquis for the Debutante mostly exemplifies this point, but "Breaking Up Mine" is an exception. "Sunshine", a processional hymn, also bares some Dylanesque innards, well overdue following the fa�ade of the plastic rhythms preceding it.

Marquis for the Debutante tend to show gentility, nobility, and formality. Similarly, Last American Buffalo has the clothes to play the part, yet, underneath its construction, its hierarchical sound displays little in the sense of intestinal fortitude.