The word lighthearted doesn't even scratch the surface of this shuffling, rattletrap twee music from the heart of the Netherlands. This quartet takes its music seriously, but injects each song with the deceptive offhand quality that is reminiscent of such forebears as the Lovin' Spoonful and the Monkees. Underneath the playful spirit is the heart of pure songsmithery, lodging everlasting melodies that will take over your cerebral cortexes for weeks. If they had kept up this feeling throughout, this album might have become part of the pop canon, but the boys make a few hyped-up missteps. Songs like “Lee J. Cobb Is Screaming a Lot” and “Kiss Me Bar” are overrun with new wave influences that feel uncomfortable and ill-fitting compared with the loose spirit of the rest of the album.
--Bob Ham
