The Sugar high Mustangs CD (Self Released)

by Lane Koivu (What’s Up Magazine)

On their self-titled debut, it’s clear that the Sugar High Mustangs aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. The Bellingham four-piece wear their influences–Pixies, Tapes N’ Tapes, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Elvis Costello–unabashedly on their sleeves, and the result is a record that is both immediately catchy and accessible, if not groundbreaking. And while this group may not be close in terms of innovation to their heroes, they do a nice job of emulating the ingredients that made those idols legendary in the first place.

Opener “Personal Power II” initially comes off as generic, with lyrics about UFOs and a friend building a bunker with a guy named Tom, but it’s saved by the excellent lead guitar and handclaps that slowly build towards a climatic ending. It’s not until the second track, “Supercollider,” that this album really takes off. With the subtle “do-doo-doo’s” throughout and nonsensical lyrics like “Supercollider, feelin’ so fine/roll up beside her, sharing a line,” this song is all gooey pop and roll, like a lost Ric Ocasek song minus the synthesizers. But what really makes it all work is the push and pull vocal dynamics of Amy and (I’m guessing) Matt, who, like Black Francis and Kim Deal before them, contrast bleak with pretty, violence with romance, and allows the listener to dig deeper into otherwise so-so lyrics. A song like “Prophets of the Database” isn’t good until her voice comes in, swimming in reverb in contrast with the otherwise dry recording, that the song realizes its full potential.

Ultimately, the Sugar High Mustangs come off as an unpolished group with an uncanny ability to write melodic, shrugged off rock songs.

It’d be easy to write this group off as one-dimensional: the non-intrusive, slightly flat vocals are always prominent, the lead guitar always comes in when you’d expect it (though the lead on this record happens to be my favorite part of every song, particularly on “Attractions of Disaster” and “Null Survivors”), and every song follows a strict verse-chorus-verse structure that can, to some, be redundant. At times, as on the throwaway “Shipping Lanes” and the somewhat annoying closer “Adventures of,” these criticisms prove true. But with songs like the surprisingly great “Down,” which features the only lead from Amy, it’s clear this band has the potential to move beyond their influences into a territory all their own.

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