Proud Simon

After a few early releases, Proud Simon’s Brian Keenan moved to Brooklyn and rebuilt the band from scratch. It seems that it was at that point where things fell into place and the sophomore effort for the second incarnation of Proud Simon illustrates that point. Night Of Criminals is apparently a concept album of sorts divided into two halves and comprised of tales of hope and stories of dark obsession, but the casual listener might not pick up on that. With the jangly guitars reminiscent of Guster and the occasional country twang, the majority of these songs skip along to a rambling beat that makes it easy to like them even after just one listen. But that immediacy does hide some of the weaker lyrics and also helps to conceal the fact that there isn’t much variety. Still, there are plenty of promising moments that suggest barring another move, there could be something very good around the corner for Proud Simon.