Podstar - "Podstar" (Noisome Records)

Album review by Chris Wagner

Okay, let's get this out of the way. Yes, the Manhattan foursome known as Podstar are young. Very young. Not like Hanson young, but close. Yes, they can also play the hell out of their instruments (humblingly so), and do just that on their self-titled debut. The lingering question seems to be: how? How do four "kids" put together a record like this? Is Ed Rose the Svengali behind it all? Not likely; the production has his fingerprints all over it -prominent guitars and lots of them, a certain "brightness" overall- but he produces lots of bands, and few of them can hit these harmonies, write these kinds of hooks, regardless of age. Fact of the matter is, this is a pretty solid pop offering by anyone's standards. Perfect?- no, but a lot of "older and wiser" pop bands should be taking notes.

Thematically, most of the subject matter falls neatly into the "Teen Angst" category- hey, they're still teens; it fits. There's loads of adolescent awkwardness here; a slightly strained vocal phrasing or an uncertain delivery melodically, lyrics dealing with subjects that perhaps they don't really have that much experience with (a lot of songs about regret for a bunch of 18-year-olds). A prime example is "Don't Know How To Do It", which presents as either a masochistic obsession or Podstar's answer to Elvis Costello's "Mystery Dance", depending on your interpretation. Overall, a pretty vulnerable record; a lot of it feels like reading someone's diary while they're in the next room, eavesdropping, peeking in a window- basically, it's kids wrestling with the age-old dilemma of growing up vs. rock 'n roll, put to a soundtrack.

Bassist Cameron Hawk and guitarist JoJo Longbottom trade lead vocal duties almost song-for-song, to mixed effect; one of their voices is clearly stronger and more practiced than the other, who seems to be a hair sharp most of the time (there are no song-by-song vocal credits, so it is unclear which). Their chief strength is their two-guitar attack, utilized to its fullest by Longbottom and Aaron Swenson as they blend alternately hyperactive lead lines with a unified rhythmic crunch (the opening track "Too Damn Loud" sets the overall tone for the record- All meets Cheap Trick uptempo power pop with super-tight harmonies). Hawk plays remarkably complex lines while singing, and also plays well off of JP Redmon's able drumming, who steers the group through the rhythmic twists of tracks like "It's Not The Radio", with its stuttering verses.

This collection is strong enough overall that any criticism might seem like nitpicking; nevertheless, two points come to mind. First, it seems that the record is somewhat backloaded in that a lot of the strongest material is on the second half. Maybe this isn't so much a criticism, but it's just that so many albums come out nowadays with all the good stuff in the first three to five songs that to hear it sequenced this way is, well, unnerving. The second point is that some of the vocal melodies sounded as though they weren't as well-constructed as the musical foundation. This puts quite a burden on some of the otherwise rock-solid harmonies. Overall, it's obvious that Podstar are well beyond their years instrumentally; it seems inevitable that with time, their melodic sense will catch up. When that happens, we'll all be going back to school.

--Chris Wagner

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