Still Searching For the Magic Mix, 3 Out of 5 Stars
A wee but more mature than The Jonas Brothers, and somewhat more reigned in than Fall Out Boy, the debut CD from NY based Push Play has their sights aimed almost unfailingly on pop stardom. That's not a bad thing, as the best material on "Found" would fit in great on the likes of Radio Disney. On the other hand, there's not an ounce of originality or risk here. Just highly sugared and self-assured power-pop.
Every song here has a definite hook to it, and lead singer CJ Baran has a dynamo of a voice for emo-pop. There's a lot of Ooo and Ahh vocals running in the background, and lots of call and response choruses. "Midnight Romeo" is sweetly sung with a Latino percussion bed, balladic needs are filled by "Where I Belong." The dreaded auto-tune is being used in that the vocals are all shiny-metallic perfect. In short, teen girls that were too young for the original run of Backstreet Boys or N'Sync are going to love this.
As for me? Meh. Push Play have a bunch of energetic songs that could make it to hit-dom. Or they could fall off the radar like a million other pop-wannabees. There's nothing on "Found" distinctive enough to lift the album above the mediocre, or even to the level of a guilty pleasure. Here's hoping they have a good management team.
No comments:
Post a Comment