At A Loss

Immediately recognisable as a familiar-sounding rock band, subsequent listens to this New York quartet's debut reveal more than first meets the ear. Between Stephen Blackwell's Thursday-ish vocal style and the chugging melodic, metallic riffs of his co-guitarist Aaron Bumpus, bassist Jeff Butkowski and drummer Greg Insero, you want to try and pigeonhole this band but as each song comes, the easy general comparison you thought you could make with the previous track is shot to hell. Part prog-ish emo, part thrashy punk, part straight-ahead rock with flourishes of ambient noodling, At A Loss leave me... ummm... at a loss to describe them as anything but worthy of your attention.