Exploding Hearts - Shattered

As far as more modern "punk rock" goes, there are few groups whose sound can fully be traced to the genre's forefathers; numerous groups talk the talk about being "'77" punk rock, but unfortunately those bands tend to be watered-down, uninteresting semi-clones. More often than not, they're devoid of substance and musicianship. The Exploding Hearts are one of few in recent years who've made us wonder how they would have fared in punk's heyday. Certainly you've heard the band's name in passing somewhere, right? The Portland-based quartet dropped Guitar Romantic in 2003, and months later an automobile accident took three of the four members' lives. In the wake of the band's demise, the single album left behind garnered an even larger following than when The Exploding Hearts still existed, and the fervor finally prompted Dirtnap Records to release Shattered, a collection of the band's singles, alternate versions, etc. The band's staple sound is steeped almost exclusively in the past--In the City-era The Jam, The Undertones (think "Get Over You"), early Buzzcocks and certainly power-pop master Nick Lowe. With fuzzy, simple guitars and youthful heartache at the group's nucleus, the songs on Guitar Romantic were instantly lovable as memorable. Unfortunately, the short-lived band never made it huge--where they were headed, easily--but the small catalog of material is enough to deem as "classic." Here, the title track ("Shattered (You Left Me") stands as one of The Exploding Hearts' best, less snotty and less amp-ed up than much of Guitar Romantic, but still maintaining Adam Cox's goofy, bubblegum lyrics ("you left me stranded/you left me shattered, baby). "So Bored" moves through its chords in the same progression as "Just Like Heaven," while the alternate versions of Guitar Romantic differ little, for the most part, from their album counterparts. In fact, six of the ten tracks from the band's debut appear on Shattered in a slightly different form, but as this is all we're gonna get from the band, no complaints allowed. '77 or the 2000s; either way, The Exploding Hearts could have and would have been one of the greats, regardless of era. Shattered is the band's last breath, the final pieces of a short-lived legacy coming out of the woodwork, and it serves as a reminder of how simplicity and youth in music can still translate into magic without beckoning for attention. Download "(Making) Teenage Faces" [www.explodinghearts.com]