As Tall as Lions made a late-aughts splash on the indie music scene with a sound characterized by
Coldplay-esque melodicism,
U2-ish ethereal guitar textures, and the supple, soaring,
Jeff Buckley-influenced lead vocals of singer Dan Nigro. On
You Can't Take It with You, the Long Island-based group continued in much the same vein as on its 2006 self-titled release, matching the abovementioned sonic palette with kinetic drum'n'bass beats and heaping helpings of old-fashioned rock energy. Sounding at once accessible and inscrutably mysterious, "In Case of Rapture" bristles with a nervous energy that should please emo fans, but remains densely textured enough to appeal to listeners with an ear for the progressive. "Circles" starts out softly melancholy, with a vocal that recalls
Art Garfunkel or
Elliott Smith before eventually exploding into a guitar freakout underpinned by tense, wiry, claustrophobic rhythms. Throughout,
You Can't Take It with You represents the sound of a band striking a delicate balance between emotional directness and artful experimentation. ~ Pemberton Roach