Modern power pop bands are in a bit of a pickle. Like any revivalists, if they copy their idols note-perfectly people will say they are nothing but pale imitators. However, if they try to do something unique and stray too far from the self-imposed boundaries of their chosen subgenre, they will be ridiculed and considered traitors. It is a fine line a band has to walk, and
Myracle Brah walks it as well as anyone has since
the Posies. They combine tuneful melodies, crunching power chords, and high, harmonized vocals with restrained modern production and post-
Nirvana drive to reach a listenable compromise between the past and the present. Their fifth album,
Treblemaker, is as good as anything they have done. The best songs, like the tough album opener "This Is Where We Belong," the bopping
Cheap Trick-inspired "Think About You," the new wave-ish "Runaway," and the anthemic "Climbing on a Star," are on par with the best of
the Posies or
Fountains of Wayne. They are climbing the pop underground ladder quickly and with vigor.
Andy Bopp has dropped any remaining vocal affectations; he sounds less like
John Lennon and more like some guy singing his guts out. The guitars are alive and tough-sounding, the production clean but not sterile. The record packs a powerful pop punch. The members of
Myracle Brah are not imitators and they are not traitors. This is just a very good pop band in the power pop tradition. Anyone who digs modern power pop needs to check this band out, and this record is a fine place to start.