Stop me if you think you've heard this one before: A band from New York City comes from nowhere to release a dynamite single with just the right mix of hip 80s influences, gets the press talking, gets a sliver of radio play, performs at SXSW, and finally releases an album that fails to live up to that first three minutes of excitement.
In this case, what a single it is-- "Hey Now Now" opens the Cloud Room's self-titled debut with a minimal guitar lick that's so familiar you can't place it, moves into rapidly-strummed acoustic guitars and fey vocals robbed from your favorite Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen albums, and brings in perky keyboards in the chorus with a climbing vocal melody and lyrics so foolish they're brilliant ("Hey now now, we're goin' downtown/ And we ride the bus there, pay the bus fare"), all delivered so infectiously it's near delirium.
The handclaps and subtle, watery keys of "Blackout!" come close to that level, as does the effortlessly catchy chorus to "Beautiful Mess", but the rest of The Cloud Room underachieves. Singer "J." is reminiscent of a tired Ian MCculloch or a less-dramatic David Bowie (they did name a track "Blue Jean", after all), his higher registers on songs like "Sunlight Song" just as relaxing as his monotone. The Cloud Room don't have anyone pushing the buttons at the right moments in the production room-- when the seams show in songs like "Blackout!", devoid of studio gloss or even vocal overdubbing, there's neither a flat performance nor cringing moments of overambition, just a happy-to-be-there karaoke grin.
Their naivete is endearing, but it's difficult to shake the feeling that you've not only heard these songs before, they were played more passionately. If only they were just a little more ambitious and written something quite as good as the opening track. Still, it's early for the band, and if they get so excited about the mundane details of travel ("paaaaaaaaayed the bus faaaaaaaare!"), then maybe touring outside of New York will give them more material as worthy as "Hey Now Now".
