3 out of 5

Produced by: Allen Vest

Label: Little Mafia Records

Oi, you got your Starlight Mints in my Polyphonic Spree!

A likely frustrating – but apt – description, Student Film have also chosen their band name wisely, as their music comes across as absolutely inspired and energetic, but clearly indebted to popsters like those named.  As produced by Mints guy Allan Vest (which is how I discovered the band), that’s not an undesirable feature, and where Vest’s group often leans into the weird, Student Film blend their pop with alt-rock flair, giving the album an appreciated bite: aggressive, swaggering strumming; a stomping propulsive beat.  …And that Student Film’s vocalist sounds like Tim Delaughter is where the Spree reference comes in, particularly that group’s more ‘aggressive’ releases, a la Fragile Army.

But, as is often the case with groups you can solely describe comparatively, Student Film’s debut is lacking in a clear, individualized identity.  It’s not a hopeless case of mimicry, though: there’s a ton of potential here, and a convincing organicness to their sound that would likely be especially convincing if the other bands mentioned hadn’t been heard before.  Still, Vest is weird and Delaughter is bright and shiny cheer, i.e. each brings something definitively them to their respective group.  Clear skills aside, Student Film, at the point of this album, were still in a formative stage.  Kept on this path, though, they’ll earn their own adjectives soon enough.