More info: www.dropzines.com
Verdict: Cautious indie-pop (66%)
The DropZine are apparently "A COLLECTION OF CIRCA 1930'S PERIODICALS DEDICATED TO ESSAYS ON NATIONAL DEPRESSION AND MASS EXHAUSTION". The DropZines, the band, are a Pennsylvanian trio, who play Indie-Pop. They consist of singer/songwriter/guitarist Shawn Stabley, bassist Tony Romanell (although Michael Brenneman was the bassist on the album) and the vocal harmonies & percussion of Jason Kline.
Opener "Sad Tuesday" is typical of what is on offer here. Jangly and buzzing guitars are combined with 60s style vocal harmonies and song structures. Shawn has a 'forlorn' edge to his vocals which fits in with the general sense melancholy that prevades these surprisingly 'bouncy' songs. There a a lot of contradictions in what I've just written and the band do fuse a few different styles making them difficult to put a tag on. Anyway putting the detailed descriptive labelling to one side, "Sad Tuesday" is a pleasant sounding indie-pop track. The same can be said for virtually all of tracks on the album. The most interesting tracks for me were the ones where they play around little and deviate from that formula. "Wire" adds a more prominent bassline making it standout. "At The Party" slows things down and adopts a more rootsy style that kind of reminds me of The Jayhawks. "I'll Take You Downtowne" is like a mixture of The Cars and possibly chilled out Ramones.
So at the end of the album we're left with a somewhat brief & pleasant album. This is in keeping with what seems like a preference for 'slices of pop' rather than grandiose anthems. Maybe it is because I tend to listen more to rock music than pop music, but I found this a little too 'safe' to really grab my attention.
