This California based band's album plopped into the old CD player a few weeks ago and has rarely left it since. A nine piece combo fronted by Kollar who writes and sings in excellent fashion, they were a breath of warm fresh air in the cold bunny burrow. Kollar has the knack of writing memorable melodies and, with a wonderful array of backings from the band members, several of the songs here are instant winners. At times the band inhabits some of the same territory as Aberfeldy or Noah and the Whale although scoring less on the whimsy scale.
From the sun kissed folky manoeuvrings of "Cartwheels" with wheezy accordion to the Van Dyke Parkisms of "Surf Song" Kollar sings his heart out with the latter sounding like a rejuvenated High Llamas. Definitely a high point.
There are at least five top-notch songs here with the last three presenting a tour de force. "Who's Gonna Bring The Sun?" breezes along with clarinet and trumpet adding colour, "The Red Wagon" has a tremendous echoing and forlorn piano sound. The closing title song gathers folk influences before freaking out with the band throwing in everything but the kitchen sink.
A tremendous debut and a name to look out for and do have a look at their video on their Myspace page.