The Uglysuit: The Uglysuit

Practically every minute on The Uglysuit's debut

full-length sounds familiar, in mostly positive ways. These Oklahoma City

young'ns—barely into their 20s—haven't exactly perfected the art of

distilling their influences, so bits of other bands creep in: a sprinkle of The

Shins here, a light dusting of Wilco there, some Midlake, and a strong pinch of

Conor Oberst's voice on one track, "…And We Became Sunshine." There are enough

obvious antecedents that The Uglysuit can mix and match to make potent new

combinations—and the group tends to borrow mood as much as the tangible

elements. Their self-titled disc's clear highlight is the country-rocking "Chicago,"

which wrangles a chorus more forcefully than the rest of the wandering songs. "Elliot

Travels" is 80 seconds of pretty piano, which takes off into the choral, jaunty

"Anthems Of Arctic Birds," which in turn winds into the dirgey seven-minute "Everyone

Now Has A Smile," which at its swirliest moments recalls Ride. It never coheres

long enough to be truly transcendent, but The Uglysuit hints at greater things

to come—and offers up enough great, though too easily recognizable,

moments to recommend it already.