The Jealous Sound
"Kill Them With Kindness" CD (Better Looking)
My friend Brent rarely tells me about bands, but when he does, he's always right. He turned me on to The Weakerthans; about a year or so ago, he told me that I needed to check out The Jealous Sound, a band featuring ex-members of Knapsack and Sunday's Best among other indie / punk luminaries. The debut EP consisted of five songs of outstanding emo-inflected indie-pop which didn't fall too far from the previous trees and whetted my appetite for more. Thus, the full-length. It's a tremendous pop album - there's not much here in terms of the stuff that usually fuels me (like politics, revolutionary sentiments, etc.), but it's an addictive record, one which practically demands to be put on repeat and allowed to play for about a week. Blair Shehan's characteristic breathy vocals combine with Pedro Benito's ringing guitar lines to yield a slew of majestic pop songs, each of which seems better than the one before.