Longwave - There's A Fire

Several years ago, Longwave arrived upon the music scene as part of a highly-touted class of NYC buzz bands including The Strokes and Interpol. While Longwave has not garnered the same amount of celebrity as these bands, There’s a Fire, their newest release and third full-length, proves they certainly have the talent to keep up with their notorious contemporaries. Throughout the majority of the record, veteran producer John Leckie (Radiohead, The Verve, The Stone Roses and many more) succeeds in getting the band to play to their strengths. The members of Longwave display a talent for marrying huge pop hooks with dreamier, less mainstream guitar and keyboard sounds. Songs like “Tell Me I’m Wrong” and the title track are far catchier and far more artistically viable than the bulk of what’s currently being played on rock radio. Other tunes that shine include “Fall on Every Whim,” a creative throwback to 80’s Brit-pop that manages to avoid sounding derivative. The gem of the album, “Next Plateau,” is a ballad featuring sweetly strummed acoustic guitars and a whimsical melody that belies the tone of frontman Steve Schiltz’s morbid words, “You might as well be dead if you’re not already.” The band occasionally falters when they allow the more experimental aspects of the record to dominate rather than accent a track. For example, cuts like “The Flood” and “Down in Here” sound like they’re trying too hard to be Radiohead and the post-punk guitars of “We’re Not Gonna Crack” serve no other purpose than to remind us of their connection to The Strokes. Despite its infrequent missteps, There’s a Fire is a portrait of a band that could have definite staying power if they maintain the right musical focus. The album eclipses the majority of rock records released this year and proves Longwave deserve just as wide an audience as the bands they are oft-compared to. [www.longwavetheband.com]