The surprising new release from Boulevard will charm the pants off you.

6 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Glam, POP: Power Pop



Details:
BOULEVARD
Vice & Daring EP
Independent Release

Vice & Daring showcases Boulevard in resplendent form. Yeah, that's a fancy word, and one full of shiny imagery and projection, but it is perhaps the best possible for this record. The sheen of the production values contained are as professional as any local record has ever been. Still, Athens' Boulevard succeeds where many bands fail by actually having great songs to display via such methods, rather than attempting to polish a turd.

For all practical purposes, Boulevard is a band of unabashed anglophiles. They're beholden artistically to the musical lineage of David Bowie and Roxy Music, yet nothing about the music sounds as if they're merely lifting licks and postures. "So Electric" carries itself by way of flange-driven guitars and an infectious chorus reminiscent of The Undertones. "Marie" sounds very much like what could be an old outtake from a Suede album if that band actually had some balls rather than just a make-up kit. "Dreams of Home" is slightly darker with its synthesized intro and spaghetti-western-on-lithium guitar interlude. It's a perfect track for a late-night drive.

The band reaches deep into the pop continuum on "Disarray" which features a great choppy guitar (a technique that hasn't been used in a good way since the heyday of the Elephant 6) and a chorus worthy of any number of 1970s teen idol bands (Bay City Rollers, Partridge Family, etc.).

Vice & Daring is an ambitious release from a band that has never been short on ambition. It's proof that these guys have known all along exactly what they were doing.

Gordon Lamb - Flagpole Magazine, Athens, Georgia