The debut album by Dallas-based indie quartet the
Hourly Radio has one of those singles, "Crime Does Pay," that instantly grabs the listener's attention by sounding vaguely like any number of other bands, but better: the disco-fied bassline nods to
Franz Ferdinand, the droning guitars are
U2 filtered through
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and there's an overall sense of new wave revival that never quite devolves into early-MTV mimicry the way it can in some band's less capable hands. Singer Aaron Closson's clear, high-pitched vocals are the
Hourly Radio's secret weapon, as shown in his effortless falsetto hooks throughout the aggrieved "Deaf Ears," but his angsty lyrics are also their weakest aspect. Ignore the overall sense of wounded romanticism that permeates the songs to focus on the impressive sense of arrangement that's evident on bits like the ghostly, keyboard-heavy intro to album opener "Travelsigns" and also the
Radiohead/
Coldplay feeling of epic scope that's evident throughout and the charms of
History Will Never Hold Me are clearer. ~ Stewart Mason