3.5 for this surprise
The Swift Runner | Carmen Santiego, USA | 07/27/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I was walking through a local record store yesterday and noticed they had about 50 copies of this. I thought "who the hell would have 50 copies of a record no one had ever heard of?", so I took a closer look. Low and behold it was released by Absolutely Kosher, one of my favorite up-and-coming labels, and home to the Wrens, Court & Spark and Frog Eyes. Certainly, I couldn't go wrong by taking a chance, and I am glad I did. There is enough here to make me want to go back to their previous records. "Jailhouse Rock" starts out as an almost cover before melting into a Disintergration era Cure-pop song. Lead singer, Paul Gonzenbach, even has a voice very similar to Robert Smith. It is like a mixture of Smith and Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie, whose fans would not be dissappointed with this. The album tends to be a bit dull towards the middle but makes up for it with the last two tracks "Beach Glass" and "Thanksgiving Grey". Overall, this is well worth the risk. If you like the Wrens or Death Cab, you will find plenty here to enjoy."