Sadly, for legal reasons, the Hazey Janes were prevented from releasing Hands Around the City, their second album, although three songs on their MySpace page -- "New York," "Losing Speed," and "Early Morning Light" -- showed them digging deeper into Hotel Radio's Teenage Fanclub/Cosmic Rough Riders Scottish power pop tradition and Mojave 3's Jayhawks-like Americana fixations. After the heartbreak of seeing their LP shelved, the Dundee foursome show resolve on this "third" LP. They've doubled their guitars' weight and wallop, and thrown in new wave influences (the Cars-like synth on "Carmelite" and "Girl in the Night"). This makes them more exciting and visceral, although it makes it harder to hear their abiding strength: the big harmonies between siblings Matthew and Alice Marra. It is a fair trade-off, though, to keep from repeating themselves, and they sound up and at 'em, energized, and blazing.
© Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover /TiVo