POST-PUNK
“Western Reserve”
Miranda Sound
Sunken Treasure
Columbus, Ohio, quartet Miranda Sound crafts intelligent, cathartic post-punk epics that waver between lanky and tuneful. It’s deceptively simple music that would do bands like Dismemberment Plan and Mission of Burma proud.
What sets Miranda Sound apart from those hallowed names are the inexorably Midwestern melodies of lead singer-guitarists Billy Peake and Dan Gerken. Despite the weighty lyrics, the choruses sound like a Frankenstein’s monster mash-up of Matthew Sweet and Robert Pollard – sweet, gritty and soaring.
Miranda Sound also sports a studio sheen previously unrealized thanks to producer/D.C. legend J. Robbins (of Jawbox and Burning Airlines), whereupon Sean Sefcik’s propulsive bass and Dan Bell’s succinct drumming get the slick sonic treatment they deserve.
“Western Reserve” finds Miranda Sound fulfilling its considerable potential amid the white noise of so many other post-punk poseurs.
INDIE ROCK
“Some Echoes”
Aloha
Polyvinyl
Aloha’s music always has distilled the most gripping elements of rock and jazz to their pop-friendly essentials. On “Some Echoes,” the band comes off like a male-fronted version of Stereolab, unabashedly aping ’70s synth-pop while sticking close to the Chicago post-rock parameters that informed its early work.
Tony Cavallario’s appealingly vulnerable vocals and the delicate interplay of guitar and keyboard form the twin poles in this gently sloping tent. The melodic structures of the first few tracks couldn’t be more distinct from one another, but that’s an asset when the music is this mellow. The percussion sounds a bit tinnier than on past recordings, but the agile performances remain.
These boys have come a long way from their punk and indie rock roots in Bowling Green, Ohio, somehow managing to give “soft rock” a good name. If “Some Echoes” hints at their future progression, they’ll continue to be worth following.
