4 out of 5

Produced by: ?

Label: Vap

It’s like all your favorite early 90s bands – you know, when recording fidelity and trends had progressed past the 80s, but before Nirvana ended up triggering the homogenization of a DIY sound – got together, somehow settled on a cohesive sound, and delivered a full album’s worth of alt-rock, shaggy-haired goodness.  Perhaps I’m supposed to add a comment here about that good ol’ American grunge sound being recycled through an international filter, Penpals being Japanese, but really, only a studied contemplation of the lyrics might give pause as to origins; otherwise, this group is fully committed in a way most bands would be jealous.  I might hear riffs that are clear nods to X, Y or Z, but no song that made me think ‘rip off,’ and go scrambling for my original vinyl version of, uh, something cool.  Penpals is Penpals.  The vocal delivery has a grand, slacker whine to it, with pronunciation like the i’m-too-lazy-to-annunciate of Brit-poppers like Oasis or Blur, and the tracks ring out with the sloppy precision of early Flaming Lips; the hook-laden gifts of that first Weezer disc.

Is it lacking slightly in a stand out track?  Yeah, sure enough.  I’m not sure I care about what’s being said, and every song is catchy, but for every name drop I’ve made, those bands will generally have that – at least – one irresistible single.  Which Penpals, alas, does not.  But ce la vie and whatever, because I’m happy to revisit this era via twelve tracks of nigh-greatness.