The title of Hellogoodbye’s full-length debut – Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! – might tempt unwary potential listeners to suspect the SoCal quartet lacks seriousness in making music. Not so. Rather, bassist Marcus Cole, singer/guitarist Forrest Kline, keyboardist Jesse Kurvink and drummer Chris Profeta approach their craft with the exemplary professionalism in which Emmett Kelly approached his; they’re all glee and figurative greasepaint. If they sound clownish on this 11-track Drive-Thru disc, they do so both purposely and jubilantly. Such songs as “All of Your Love,� “Here (In Your Arms),� “All Time Lows� and “Stuck to You� revel in spaz breaks, textural shifts, and wiggy figures; sharp and shiny, their kineticism approximates an aural pachinko machine. The vocals, as well as the lyrics, to be sure, sometimes sink in the free-for-all mix. Still, that seems forgivable given (for example) the vocoder verve and booty-shaking bliss of “Touchdown Turnaround (Don’t Give Up on Me).� Counterbalancing the outré energy of most of the disc, moreover, are more sedate numbers like “Oh, It Is Love,� a delightful little love song accented by finger snaps, and the closer, “Two Weeks in Hawaii,� an endearing meditation on separation. In short, Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! should constitute a winning addition to anyone’s summer listening.
Bryan A. Hollerbach
Release date: August 8, 2006
