Wunderband - Wunderband

All Music Guide

The "official" follow-up to several self-released EPs and seven-inch singles, Wunderband's debut full-length CD release is a '90s power-pop tour de force, full of beautifully chiming guitars, solid drum beats and melodic, McCartney-esque bass lines. The band's songs are top-notch, and Wunderband's two writers have wonderfully complementary styles. Kyle Kelso favors the more straight-ahead rock/Cheap Trick-style tunes, while Robert Fanelli explores a more harmonically experimental, XTC-influenced style. Lyrically, Kelso nails the teenage angst thing in a perfect, '50s kind of way (mentions of "broken glasses" and "locker shrines" take the place of the usual paeans to suicide and drugs) with songs like "Lunchroom Blues" and "Pinup." Fanelli's points are often somewhat more obscure but no less effective, often striking a perfect balance between the heartbreaking with the absurd. Beautifully recorded, Wunderband has the well-produced sheen of a major-label album, and the effect works well ...with the band's expertly crafted material. - Pemberton Roach, All Music Guide Read more Less