Communiqué's
Poison Arrows is a classy production. From the Hallmark-quality photograph of a pretty flower on the cover to the group's natty attire on the back cover to the crystal-clean production to the restrained playing and simple but catchy songwriting, everything about this disc screams Major Label. That the disc is on Lookout! is a bit of a shock. That Lookout! would want their own carbon copy of
the New Pornographers is not such a shock, since that band probably makes some decent money for Matador. They get radio play, get their videos shown, generate buzz. Sadly,
Communiqué won't do much of any of the above, and it's easy to understand why. There's no
Neko Case on the mike, no Carl Newman or Daniel Bejar penning songs, no hook for the media to latch onto. Also, they simply aren't as good. They are perfectly fine post-something indie pop/rock with a few songs that you might remember in a pinch, and that is it. "Black Curses" has a fine melody and lead vocal; "Evaporate" is a bouncy keyboard-led pop tune that sounds like a mix of
the NPs,
Interpol, and
Hanson. Very frothy and just a little weird. If only more of the songs had been a little more weird or different or something -- then maybe there would be something to love here. Maybe there would be something to make you listen twice. As it is, they sound like one of the bands signed in the great alterna-rock A&R frenzy of the early '90s and found their records going straight to the cutout bin. If such a thing even exists anymore, that is where you will likely find
Poison Arrows. ~ Tim Sendra