Fiction

Album Review

Professional baseball scouts reserve their highest praise for "five-tool players," farm-team prospects who exhibit the critical skills — hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, throwing, and base running — that typically, but certainly not always, result in success at the major-league level. With Fiction, Key Note Speaker similarly boast the raw tools and talent generally endemic to superior rock & roll, even if this debut falls shy of such greatness. Co-produced by Seattle legend Jack Endino, Fiction's smartly crafted melodies are well served by a nuanced, spacious sound that suggests a wide range of influences but pays blatant homage to no one source in particular — frontman Scott Gallagher's songs are sturdy, not exceptional, but his emotive vocals speak volumes, suggesting Key Note Speaker's most powerful music still lies ahead. (For more information, visit www.knspeaker.com.)