Record Exchange Boise

Reviews:

It’s been nearly a decade since Frank Blank faxed pink slips to his bandmatesin the Pixies, but the group’s legacy—fiercely melodic pop sensibilities,off-kilter harmonies, blazing guitar pyrotechnics and all—lives on in thehearts and minds of this generation’s next wave of great emo bands. Lawrence,Kansas quintet The Anniversary obviously owe a great debt to the Pixies: thecoda of “Crooked Crown” offers a familiar tailspin into Frank Black-stylemania, while “Devil on my Side” indulges liberally in both heartbreakand paranoia. And it’s easy to draw parallels between the two bands whenyou consider that vocalist Adrianne Pope—who previously played Kim Dealto Matt Pryor’s Frank Black on the Get Up Kids’ blissful cover of“Alec Eiffel”—performs a similar role here with guitarists JoshBerwanger and Justin Roelofs.

But while poor Kim Deal never found much room to breathe until migrating tothe Breeders, Pope emerges as the most potent voice on Your Majesty,a singer whose gentle, crystalline delivery helps the group’s more leadencompositions take flight. And while the album ultimately lacks some of the teethof the group’s 2000 debut Designing a Nervous Breakdown, producerRob Schnapf—who anchored recent releases by Elliott Smith and Guided byVoices—has drawn the group’s focus tighter with his generally sharpinstincts. Still, one wishes for a bit more of the straightforward Pixies idolatryand a bit less of the cloying theatrics of the Rentals on tracks like “SweetMarie.” But all is forgiven with one spin of “Tu-Whitt Tu-Whoo,”the record’s mix tape-ready centerpiece. Somewhere, in a UFO circling therings of Jupiter, Frank Black is green with envy.