For the Posers

Album Review

The brainchild of Howie Statland, this group has created a cult following in their hometown with a blistering blend of hard, primal rock riffs while addressing some wider issues in the process. "The Fallout" fuses all that is good about the Strokes but has the frontman doing a well-versed Bruce Springsteen delivery in front of a cute alternative rock bassline. "Harbor" has a short amount of singalong material within it, but seems to tackle the record industry and its vices surrounding it elegantly in a pop/rock framework. Drawing mostly on his hometown of New York City, Statland's group moves into an urban roots rock model on "Lies." While some of the songs hit the right notes musically, lyrically they're slightly weaker. Thankfully, on "Empire of Doubt," the group fuses both areas to perfection in a tight pop/rock jangle. "Halo Man" picks up on the same vibe, but some numbers miss the mark occasionally, such as "Bigger." Closing with the epic in "Pick & Choose," the album ends on a nice high note, but most of the album hovers above a comfortable middle ground for a good effort which could have been great.