SAPS C’mon Already–Start a Fire | self-released
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Local indie-pop acts like Office and the Changes have started inching into the national spotlight, but this unflashy foursome, which has been together for more than seven years, has had trouble getting noticed just around town. Though there’s probably a reason for that, it can’t be that the Saps don’t make equally solid music–their new C’mon Already–Start a Fire proves it. They don’t do anything especially original in these ten songs, but they do almost everything well. An antsy off-mike “Go!” kicks off the album, setting its exuberant tone, and from first to last this endearing, occasionally brilliant mess of amped-up guitar rock lifts liberally from some of the form’s best practitioners. The twinges of country from the band’s previous releases are pretty much gone: The opening track, “Coup de Grace,” is the best Built to Spill rip-off since the first couple Modest Mouse records, embellished with harmonized ahhhs and an almost Martsch-worthy guitar solo. And “Broke My Spine” floats along on lackadaisical swells of chiming, Beatlesque psychedelia, then surges into the kind of gently epic chorus that went out of style in indie rock sometime in the late 90s but still sounds pretty good anyway. Front man Dan Lastick’s quirky delivery and unpolished voice are part of the band’s charm, though they can be a liability too–his nerdy, punkish white-bread yelping and strange nasal falsetto get a little grating after four or five songs. Like pretty much every other band trafficking in power pop, the Saps are best served one single at a time. But the highest honor a band like that can earn is to be the secret weapon in someone’s mix-CD arsenal, and there’s plenty of ammo on C’mon. | thesaps.com
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