Neo Wave＜限定盤＞

Silver Sun's debut album was filled with sunny harmonies that sounded like The Beach Boys cross-bred with Cheap Trick, and despite the novelty value of that combination, the songs worked. Getting it to work again, however, is more difficult. With Neo Wave, Silver Sun have created a disc that is a blatant throwback to mid-70s power-pop (see the Cheap Trick lyrical reference on "Mustard": "Don't try this at home kids, it's a cheap Cheap Trick") and while at times the formula works, it often falls flat. Some songs, such as "I'll See You Around" and "Would've If I Could've" recall the exuberance of the debut, but the album is weighed down with several shoddy ballads and one pointless instrumental as well as a lot of needless filler. When they hit the mark, such as they do a few times on this album, Silver Sun is great late '90s power pop. When they miss, as they do on much of this album, the result is at best embarrassing. ~ Jason Damas