Artemis Records
2004
Palm Trees And Power Lines
About This Album
Sugarcult's 2001 debut, Start Static, had its share of filler, but the band that brought listeners "Stuck in America" and "Bouncing Off the Walls" certainly understood the power and marketability of shoutable choruses and giddy hooks played loud. Palm Trees and Power Lines, their sophomore major-label effort, might not be as direct, meaning they want to trade a bit of the bubblegum for some mall-punk songwriting cred. Its formula -- a clutch of upbeat rockers paced out with a few girlfriend-pleasing ballads -- is exactly the same, so the album will still please most of Sugarcult's Warped Tour constituency. But there's a sense that its hooks are more murky, that perhaps the bandmembers are aiming for some "seriousness" this time around. "Champagne" could be about the perils of celebrity overconsumption; its cleaned-up Nirvana vocals carry over to the cleansed So-Cal punk of "What You Say." "She's the Blade" mixes some minor chords into its tale of backstabbing romance, but is still guided by giddy pick slides and a head-bouncing singalong chorus. Even lead single "Memory" nixes the full-on anthemic antics of blink-182, instead co-opting the faceless, vaguely punk-influenced hard rock model of, say, American Hi-Fi.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,6,7,8,9,10 and 11)

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