Tilly and the Wall

Tilly and the Wall are a Midwestern, co-ed pop rock band with ties to Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley. Riding the current wave of indie rock "teenybopper” music, Tilly and the Wall would fit impeccably onto a Lindsay Lohan movie soundtrack, even though they tour small clubs rather than arenas or collapsible mall stages. Bottoms of Barrels plays around with different genres, remaining consistently upbeat and not a little bit syrupy. "Brave Day,” among others, uses a country beat beneath the usual boy/girl harmonies and shouts, and "Bad Education” does the same with Mariachi drum rolls and synthesised trumpets. Though hard to take seriously, Tilly and the Wall are good training-wheel pop. They play out ’60s routines with post-emo semi-earnestness, but they write catchy songs. When singer Kianna’s vocals are at their emotional peak, they tend to come across like white suburban R&B — but it could be, and has been, much worse. Tilly and the Wall aren’t exactly blazing their own path, but they have charm on their side.