Over the years, indie music seems to have adopted a kind of secret handshake for identifying one of their own. Rule number one: Make sure your band starts with the ever popular article the (as in The Shins, The Frames, The The). Second rule: If you are an American band, do everything you can to sound like a British indie pop band. And, voila, you have the makings of a potentially fantastic new indie rock sensation. At first, Rochester’s The Mercies appear to have that quintessential indie rock feel to them. Their debut album, The Mercies, is a blink of sounds thrown together from generations of typical inspirations like The Beatles, Duran Duran, and Nirvana. Songs like “Prettiest,” “Walk Right Out on Me,” and “You Can’t Stop Me Now” are exceedingly upbeat and pop inspired, but in that hackneyed, commercial jingle way. Thankfully, lead songwriter Mike James, formally of Longwave, managed to squeeze out a few gems with “A Lot to Say,” “Out of Nowhere,” and “Colors of the World.” Each of these tunes was a thoughtfully constructed snippet of solid melodies and tangible terms. However, The Mercies blessing may also be its curse. The good thing about the album is that there is something for everyone. Not every song will speak to the listener, but there is enough material to reach a wider range of people. Unfortunately, the randomness makes the album uneven with its vacillating tendencies between superb and spastic.
--Brigitte B. Zabak
