Amplifier readers will undoubtedly love this album. Guitarist and songwriter John Irvine shares not just Andy Partridge’s elastic vocal technique, but a similar whimsical pop aesthetic, making music that is not slavish to, but rather reminiscent of, or inspired by XTC’s. The Jennifers’ third long-player is indebted further to the jangly, revisionist ‘60s weirdness of The Soft Boys (whose sparkling “Queen of Eyes” is covered faithfully here), but with a penchant for leaning on arrangements favoring clean, surfy guitar sounds and basement production techniques that posits it as more American indie than Euro wannabe. Funny at times - “Starfleet Academy” achieves the rare balance of being nerdy and muscular at the same time - the band benefits from not taking itself too seriously, yet also chafes at the idea of turning itself into a bunch of self-deprecating jokesters. Beneath the chimey pop surface bubbles a stream of genuine guitar god agility, as the final one-two punch of “Lion in Winter” and “Saturday” proves, but instead of taking off on extended upper fret jams, Irvine and second guitarist Joe Stone create tension and release out of languid, relaxed interplay.
~ Larry O. Dean
