Melting Hopefuls - Space Flyer (CD)

All Music Guide

Quirky pop/rock with some folk and noise touches, Melting Hopefuls' full-length debut, following a trio of increasingly well-received EPs, is a solid dose of indie rock that neatly skirts around most of the traps that befell similar groups around this same time. Co-leaders Renee LoBue and Ray Ketchem have a better knack for melody than Pavement, LoBue's better at staying on key than Liz Phair, and the group has a greater sense of dynamics than Guided By Voices, able to mix and match moments of startling noise and languid prettiness, often in the same song. LoBute's a pretty fair hand with a lyric as well, as shown by the standout track "Pulling an All-Nighter on Myself," a wry tale of catching one's boyfriend in embarrassing circumstances, with half-spoken lyrics and the album's most memorable chorus. Though that track is the clear standout, the other dozen tunes are pleasantly varied and often very good, particularly the hypnotic "Rise." Melting Hopefuls would only last long enough to... record one more EP, but LoBue and Ketchem ended up in the even better Elk City in the following decade. - Stewart Mason, All Music Guide Read more Less