Hot Pursuit

For many years now, Teenbeat Records have been carving a niche for themselves, issuing a great deal of good music that could be loosely collected under the banner of "indie pop." And for years, members of the bands recording for the label have created all kinds of side projects and collaborations that don't exactly represent huge departures for anyone involved, but do help bolster the label's catalogue. So I suppose you could kind of think of Hot Pursuit as yet another Teenbeat supergroup of sorts - Evelyn Hurley cut her teeth in Blast Off Country Style while Margaret McCartney was a founding member of Tuscadero. Add to that the inevitable production of Mark Robinson and you pretty much get an idea of what to expect. Fans of either band will not be disappointed. Musically, you get a lot of cute vocal harmonies that can be a little overpowering from time to time - the saccharin level is high, but is kept in check with some lyrics that are darker than they initially appear. Still, the music is uncomplicated, uncluttered and usually upbeat. The Thrill Department is almost the perfect example of throwaway pop music - fun to listen to, but at the end of the day, kind of inconsequential.