The Golden Republic - The Golden Republic

When Golden Republic put out their first EP People, I picked it up based purely on the cover art. The image was simple, stark, and had some well designed type. I had no clue what the music sounded like, but if my local indie felt confident enough in it to put it on an end cap maybe it had some merit. So now here I am with the full-length, more eye-catching cover art, and my mouth agape that they were actually able to give a proper tease with a previously released EP. An EP has the advantage of either A) being weird offshoots from what the band really is trying to do or B) a quick look at the bands best songs, soon to be jumbled in with a bunch of filler and crappy ballads. Somehow this Kansas City-based band was able to break away from these conventions and just go ahead and release an entirely solid rock album. There's only one ballad, and every other track brings a little something to the table. The hook with the band is the over arching bitterness in each of the songs. While upbeat, catchy, and even danceable at times - the lyrics are typically spiteful about some failed relationship. Why write an album of crying emocore bullshit when you can take your 70's rock / Elvis Costello keyboards / mid-90's catchy hard rock influences and weave them into a catchy rock record? Recommended tracks: "Turning of the World," "You Almost Had It," and "Not My Kind." If you aren't convinced after hearing those three tracks that this is a solid disc, then there isn't much I can do for you. [www.goldenrepublic.com]