2x****
I bought this album on the strength of the U2 meets Jesus/Mary Chain intro of the opening track "I'll Be Gone"****, which wastes no time. The general guitar sound is close to Oasis, but the stadium-sized egos are replaced by a vague and doe-eyed simplicity, in the form of hyperbolic love songs, which is cute up to a point. By "Old In Just One Day" the repeated angular melody and reverb formula reveals the crummy singing and hokey lyrics all the noise tries so hard to hide. Most of the better songs, such as "Dark Heart" and "Whirlwind" just copy the formula of "I'll Be Gone". "Love Doesn't Last"**** has a riff really similar to the Hawaii 5-0 theme, but the way the song stops leading up to it gives it some extra umph. For the most part though, on songs like "You Bury Me" and "No Time For Us" these are just motions to be performed, and the album doesn't come close to living up to its influences.
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