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Waxed - Record Review from Issue #68 Mar-Apr 2007

Broken West

I Can't Go On, I'll Go On (Merge)

By

The opening track here rocks like something off of This Year’s Model, with its loopy organ break and Spectorific caveman drumming. There’s a jittery new wave abandon to “Slow”, and the wistful hooks of “So It Goes” are driven home on the back of a ramshackle Motown-on-trucker-speed beat. But for the most part, these guys take a Teenage Fanclub stance on how much power a power-pop record requires — just enough to get the job done. Acoustic guitars are strummed with vigor, tambourines are shaken, and Beatlesque chords are deployed. They’ve managed to offset every gorgeous, sun-drenched harmony with edges rough enough to guarantee you won’t mistake this infectious debut for the latest Butch Walker production. Which, of course, is just the thing to put across their aching tales of unrequited love and faded innocence.

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Originally Featured in Issue #68 Mar-Apr 2007

Cover of Issue #68 Mar-Apr 2007

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