Even

Even are exactly what they are and what Ashley Naylor wants them to be -- a band whose members love their Beatles, their ELO, their power pop, their hints of roots music appreciation. It's all in there and they're not only not hiding it; they revel in it. It would be pointless to criticize something that they're precisely aiming for, no less so than any number of acts exploring their own favorite genres almost to a fault. Even the song titles hit the trick moment for moment -- "I Am the Light," "Keep on Burning," "The Fool Who Makes You Sad" -- and are all spot-on. Naylor's yearning vocals, the tuneful guitar crunches, the flanged vocals and buried string swells on "Only One" -- it's all designed to slot them in alongside bands ranging from the Shoes to Cheap Trick to Redd Kross to Teenage Fanclub to Jellyfish, and it's well in line with what he's been doing leading Even all these years. But so perfected is this approach now that there's almost little to say; Even as an album is such a flawless example of what Naylor aims for that it's almost something to admire and regard with appreciation more than anything else. When a song like "Superstition Blues" is exactly the kind of stylishly formal exercise one might guess, down to the twang in the vocals as much as the guitars and mouth harp, what more can be done but to acknowledge it for what it is? So if any of this sounds like it would appeal, then Even is going to be a treat, but there's still something to be said for trying to push oneself creatively -- and, ultimately, that's just not in evidence here. ~ Ned Raggett|