The debut full-length by
Robbers on High Street tries a bit too hard to put this New York quartet on the same footing as
the Strokes,
Ambulance LTD, or
Interpol: '80s-inspired post-post-punk given an unapologetically commercial sheen. That production gloss might actually be to the band's detriment; these songs are uniformly head and shoulders above those on their 2004 EP,
Fine Lines, but that self-produced record had some appealingly rough edges that suited the band's slightly nervous, jumpy sound. On
Tree City, drummer
Tomer Danan and bassist
Jeremy Phillips are smoothed out, more
Echo & the Bunnymen than
Joy Division, a change that does the songs no favors. Although frontman
Ben Trokan's songwriting has taken an enormous step forward -- the soaring "Amanda Green" has a chorus worthy of
Paul Weller between verses that mine the same vein of post-punk dance as
Franz Ferdinand -- the curiously lifeless production means that several listens are necessary before the songs' charms are fully revealed. ~ Stewart Mason