It's incredible that there is only one man in this group who writes and plays everything. Justin Stivers, whose dayjob is playing bass in the also awesome indie group Antlers, poured his heart and soul into this record and it shows. Although there definitely seems to be band chemistry in the little solo at the end of "Another" (that would be right before he mumbles, "Album ends,') we can surmise that the reason everything works so neatly on top of everything else is because it all came from one mind with one end goal and no outside input.

The result is a really hook-laden album; you can tell the guy knows a thing or two about melody from his experience in other groups. "Cheer Up" is right � it's hard to be in a bad mood while listening to this. You'll fall in love with the distant shoegaze vocals that vaguely recall My Bloody Valentine, and the guitar melodies are never generic. There's always something to catch your attention, whether it the intricacy of the guitar picking at the end of "Tales of Stage Fright" (16th notes really stick out from this otherwise mellow track) or the bouncing, ridiculously catchy bassline from "Producing Emotions."

It's not easy to spot this guy's influences. He sings like a Beach Boy on the opener "Celebrate Youth Over and Over Again", but that's as far as that group's presence goes. "Violent Dreams" has pretty similar lyrics to Jay Reatard's "Turning Blue" (mostly, he wants to kill you and stuff) but the music sounds a lot more Wilco and a lot less destruction. The Closer "Another" could have fit right on Modey Lemon's Season of Sweets, but that song sounds like nothing else on the album so it shouldn't count. The only logical statement I can make is that Stivers has got a cannon of great musical influences logged inside his head that he pulls from to stitch together awesome eclectic albums such as this one. I'm thrilled to not be able to classify it.

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