Small Reactions

New Age Soul

Sofaburn Records

This Atlanta group's third album, and debut for Sofaburn, is a very nice jangle pop update. It sounds like a sped up take on early REM and the hard-edged jangle of Let's Active's Big Plans for Everybody and Cypress.

The lyrics take on the alienation, confusion, and dislocation of modern life, but end on a happy note with “There Is A Light.” The lyrics overall are never dark, as they try to figure out life, and sometimes succeed, sometimes not, all of which is human.

The Game Theory homage “Speak And Dress” sounds like it could've come off Real Nighttime, like a combination of “24” and “Curse Of The Frontier Land.” That Small Reactions would update one of the greatest bands that doesn't get updated enough, and do it right, makes this album a must-hear for this song alone.

It is a relief to hear an indie rock band that isn't beholden to Krautrock or Kraftwork, that plays electric guitars, that uses keyboards just for color and detail: another reason to get this album, to hear what indie rock once sounded like and should sound like again.

Andrea Weiss