Northern American – Modern Phenomena

A band with the audacity to call itself Northern American either has something vital to say or nothing at all, and there should be little dispute about which category these guys fall into. Maybe a line like “Can’t we ever learn to live without all the things you did without” is intended as an incisive reflection of a modern culture in which new technologies have bred a precedent for shallow intellectual engagement, but further evidence of such considered poeticism is scarce (“On the moon...” repeats Nate Paul during Somewhere Out There’s closing refrain).

Fortunately Modern Phenomena becomes much more listenable and sometimes even enjoyable when the rhythm section is left to do the talking, the band locking into dynamic two chord grooves that simmer and twinkle like a more languid, if relentlessly saccharine Talking Heads. The bass playing is especially funky, but far from enough to plug the sizeable hole where more of this record’s ideas should be. [Andrew Gordon]