Holler! Wild Rose

Sometimes it’s difficult not to hold a band’s badly overwritten bio against them. Clearly, everyone involved is convinced of Holler, Wild Rose!’s genius; and it’s good, just not "shoegaze’s heyday with some of prog rock’s finest moments” good. Yes, there are three guitarists at all times drenching every song in cascading waves of tremolo-picked, echoing note lines, unless one is on keys. Chalk one up for the shoegazers, but adding a little syncopation to a couple of beats doesn’t make something "prog,” that would involve straying from the 4/4 timing or predictably warm and epic chord progressions that serve as the spine of Our Little Hymal’s 12 tracks. "Overindulgent Brit pop” is a more truthful description. The band are obviously comprised of early Radiohead devotees. Lead singer John Mosloskie inhabits Thom Yorke’s vocal range and style so closely that I’m tempted to check for evidence of genetic cloning. Mislabelling aside, it’s a solid album for anyone that’s ever wished Sigur Rós would write a pop album, or that Coldplay would drink more cough syrup.