You don't hear actual four-part harmony an awful lot in pop music these days, not since the heyday of doo wop. You especially don't hear four-part harmony in punk-edged indie rock, so
Univox's debut is pretty startling on a number of levels. If it all adds up to a welter of great ideas and sporadically great delivery, that's par for the course -- it's what makes a debut album exciting: hearing the skill and talent and also recognizing hints of the promise that remains to be realized. The album's opening track finds
Univox working in an explicitly old-school punk mode, with lead vocals that whinny at the ends of phrases just like Johnny Rotten's used to. But then things get complicated: several tunes, notably "Everybody Knows" and the shambling 6/8 number "Cannonball," bring to mind
the Mekons with their cowpunky flavor; others, notably the wonderfully jangly "Lever Master City," evoke
the Clash circa
London Calling. But none of this prepares you for the deeply bizarre but very fun a cappella song "All This Blood Came from My Heart" or the equally bizarre but somewhat less fun "Bright Lady Light." "Conan" (a tribute to the famous Barbarian) is brilliantly raving pop-punk, while "Mind Traveler's Song" is raw and surf-inflected. The album ends with something of a whimper ("Nobody's That Smart" is structurally ambitious but ultimately fails to cohere) but is a solidly respectable first effort overall. ~ Rick Anderson