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Album Review

Perhaps it's appropriate that Kennedy recorded and mixed about half of the tracks on Rex Aquarium's debut album at his rehearsal studio. Lead singer Charlie Wadhams, like Kennedy, has an edgy shake in his voice that can recall old New York new wavers like Tom Verlaine, though Wadhams is more on-key than Kennedy, and has at least as much David Byrne in him as Verlaine (as well as a pinch of early Jonathan Richman, perhaps). The music, too, is closer to Talking Heads than Television, and overall a little reminiscent of the more arty sound of NYC new wave: a spare, lean sound, jagged rhythms that are funky without being funk, and nervously jittering tunes. The lyrics are kind of oblique, too, though at their core the songs are often-anxious dances around romantic and sexual longing and desire. There's a tentative quality about this music that's endearing, with songs like "Alicia" and "Rex Aquarium" expressing unconfident vulnerability without stooping to wimpiness. But that sparse tentativeness also makes it sound a little unfinished and sketchy.