Outside Guiding Lights

Album Review

North Carolina's the Saving Graces make Winston-Salem proud with Outside Guiding Lights, a fine example of American power pop that routinely fuses elements of the dB's and the Plimsouls. With singer/songwriter Michael Slawter at the helm, the group renders hook-laden standouts like the punky, rumbling "Giving Up the Ghost" and the gorgeous, shimmering "Faster Than the Speed of Life." With the witty, insanely catchy "I Belong to the Jet Set World," Slawter gets dumped when his social-climbing girlfriend leaves for the hip Motor City — land of the White Stripes and the Von Bondies. While the Graces don't always succeed (the Blur-meets-Smithereens feel of "Kennedy Whispers" is pretty dull), the jangly goodness of "Southern Gothic Sound" and the wicked title cut, which magically builds its hook with a sitar, are out of sight. ~ John D. Luerssen, All Music Guide