Sundayrunners - Sundayrunners

Genre rock Publisher Machine Records External Links Official Website Machine Records

Pop is a pernicious thing; you get one strike, and that's your lot.. Sometimes, however, Pop smiles on the few, offering a tempting second chance. Sundayrunners are angling for such a prize; the mastermind behind the band, Randy Diderrich, used to be in Milwaukee-based rock group Front of Truck, probably most famous for having a song featured on TV's Party of Five, but now he's heading in a new direction, eschewing rock for a poppier sound. The question is, then, are Sundayrunners deserving of that second chance?

The church bells that announce the beginning of "Elected" firmly answer that question as affirmative, ringing in a song that sounds disarmingly simple. Pay attention, though, and you can trace influences ranging from all the way back to the British Invasion of 60s to the cold computer worlds of Kraftwerk. All chopped up and rebuilt as a modern indie-pop song, beautiful harmonies mixing in with a sense of playfulness making a very promising start to the album.

"Memories Left At Sea," the second track, was recently featured on The O.C., and it's easy to see why: it's a subdued ballad filled with typical teenaged angst, but the simple song is made more interesting than its peers by virtue of Aaron Grant's haunting keyboard work in the background. "Into Your Head" is another maudlin ballad, although this time, it appears to be a conscious effort to mimic a Jeff Buckley or Coldplay vocal, as it is laced with with lots of vocal yelpings, helped along by slightly clunky lyrics such as "into your room/you sway and swoon" (with "swoon" containing more "O's" than a standard bag of Cheerios, naturally). It's a little too cute and contrived for its own good, but you can't help being amusement by its brazenness.

The highlight of the album is "1993." It's another ballad, but almost without any traditional verse/chorus structure. Instead, the song rambles on, a gentle acoustic strum being dragged along by a lilting electric guitar, topped off with a gorgeous electronic coda that adds to the feeling of loss that permeates through the lyrics ("I got a late call/from a man that couldn't be"). Quite splendid, and shows how the band is capable of stepping outside the usual indie-pop clichés.

That's not to say that the album doesn't have any mis-steps; "Everlasting Sun" sounds like a badly out-of-tune Guided By Voices offcut, "Half My Height" is dull indie-rock, enlivened only by the use of off-beat handclaps, and "Lip Biter"'s inane chorus of "Lip biter/I'm on fire/Lip biter/Yes ma'am for hire" is fairly embarrassing. But despite these setbacks, the album recovers quite well, leaving on a very high note with the ballad "Floor Toms Fall Away." In contrast to the lush opener, this song is stark and empty, using droned harmonies and piano to create an affecting finale.

Second chances may not be all that common in Pop, but they do happen. With SundayRunners, Randy Diderrich has shown that he, and the rest of the band, are capable of making finely-tuned pop songs that should appeal to many. Hopefully, Pop will smile on the band, and we'll see them making music together for several years to come.