Brooklyn duo ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS had already earned their spurs with their recent, above-average, emo-bothering single "Swing Swing" (in the charts at #13 UK as I scribble), but it's heartening to report that its' mothership is a vessel crammed with a cargo of sonic possibilities and prepared to chart deep sea waters away from the traditional American power-pop safe havens.
From the off, it's clear Tyson Ritter (bass/vocals) and Nick Wheelers (drums/ guitars/ keyboards) are keen to gnaw away at the boundaries. Their eponymous debut breaks out of the stalls with "My Paper Heart": a deliciously poppy concoction with loops, acoustic strumming and (wa-hey!) glockenspiel that -coupled with Ritter's nasally vocal - recall a more exuberant Flaming Lips. Ace, as is the bright, brash stomp of "Your Star" and its' attendant, buzzing mini-moog. By the time "Swing Swing" re-emerges as track three, you're confident you're in for a hook-filled ride.
And for the most part you'd be right, though the largely upbeat melodic suss often sugars a melancholy lyrical pill, not least on songs like "Time Stands Still" (killer intro line: "Him and her, life is turned/ The day I knew you would leave"), which - observation-wise - is far closer to Mark Kozelek than berks like Jimmy Eat World - and the similarly deceptive "Don't Leave Me" ("Just dry your tears/ A tear for everything I did wrong") which is punky, bracing and heartbreaking all at once.
Elsewhere, Ritter and Wheeler excel with yearning treasures like "One More Sad Song" and the tremendous "Too Far Gone", both of which toy with and then re-arrange the updated East Coast power pop sound recently touted so spectacularly by Nada Surf. The big, hymnal, New Order-style keyboards that wash over "Too Far Gone" are one of the album's highest peaks and Ritter's harmony-laden vocals often reach for the higher registers the way Matthew Caws does.
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But the All-American Rejects are no pale imitators. Sure, tracks like "Why Worry" and "Drive Away" update The Knack's patented frat-boy power pop, but hey - who's complaining when it's this good? Besides, when they can sign off with the killer riumvirate of "Happy Endings" (bells! gritty riffs! tricky little piano bits!); "The Last Song" (sampled strings! drama! chugging guitars!) and the pretty little acoustic ditty "The Cigarette Song", harping on would be churlish in the extreme.
"All-American Rejects" is considerably superior to most of the mediocre crimes being commited under the flag of "emo" and leaves you in no doubt that - unlike the rusty relics of go-karts, bikes and caravans adorning the sleeve - Ritter and Wheeler's future endeavours should be encouraged rather than callously put out to pasture.
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