The Photo Atlas

I feel like I’ve been down this road before: a young band with precisely sloped hairdos pumping out high energy, angular rock that you can dance to. Sound familiar? However, before you chalk this up as yet another group of pretenders give the Photo Atlas a chance. No, Not Me, Never won’t earn these Denver kids honours for innovation but the amount of vitality they commit to their music is commendable. Thankfully, they don’t appear to be any sort of tribute band, but it’s simple to narrow down their influences. They clearly grew up on At the Drive-In, as Alan Andrews’ Cedric Bixler-like wail fits right in with the razor-sharp guitar sting, and the danceable drum patterns suggest they’ve been paying attention to acts like Bloc Party. There’s an impressive consistency throughout this album — there’s no come down or nonsensical move towards messing up this formula. In many ways they’ve contributed a companion piece to sibling act ¡Forward Russia!’s impressive Give Me A Wall, building up frenetic whirlwinds that never relent. Unfortunately, there is a hurdle they can’t clear: No, Not Me, Never cannot dig up the hooks that make this kind of music stand out, which is vital. Until the band discover how to write those they’ll only be pushing up air, not record sales.