Even by the relatively light standards of contemporary teen-friendly pop, sometimes one has to wonder how a band found stardom or success. Australia's
Short Stack fit that bill with their debut,
Stack Is the New Black. The trio borrows heavily from America's modern emo and teen punk bands --
Panic at the Disco,
My Chemical Romance, possibly
Good Charlotte. However, they do so without finding or retaining the redeeming qualities of their influences. Instead, they write simplistic hooks and simplistic lyrics with the occasionally disturbing content for shock value ("kill your boyfriend, we can be together"), and throw in enough hamfisted Auto-Tune to try to balance out the equation a bit. Without a stronger set of compositions, however, the production can't save the album. The trio's performances are dominated by frontman Shaun Diviney, with a handful of basic synth, guitar, and piano riffs and a basic rhythm guitar looped in, as well as a vocal delivery that seems to have more affectations than original content. Drums are held up capably though unmemorably by Bradie Webb, and bassist Andy Clemmensen is nearly never heard through the high-treble mix. This band is clearly reaching for stardom, but seems to be reaching more on the basis of attitude than on music -- it may have worked for
the Sex Pistols, but the punk-lite
Short Stack are no
Sex Pistols. ~ Adam Greenberg