Power-pop band passes the rock-crit vaccuum test
When the going gets domestic, certain music journalists are not averse to a bit of multitasking. One tried-and-true method of testing a new album while catching up on some cleaning is to listen to the music at excessive volume while vacuuming an of?ce. The core elements, hopefully, emerge: a stutter-step groove, the indomitable bass line, a melody that might, like a sensuous dust ball, rise above the cacophonous din of domestic responsibility. The Honorary Title’s major-label debut, Scream And Light Up The Sky, handily passes the test. Produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck), the album’s no-nonsense production and Jarrod Gorbel’s razor-thin vocals cut through the usual morass of pop/emo clichés, ?nding precious middle ground between the angularity of early Pulp and the more earnest textures of Jimmy Eat World. “Stuck At Sea” and “The City’s Summer” seem poised to ?oat over the airwaves at some point—mightily and unfettered by appliances.