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Album Details

• Artist: Rogue Wave
• Album: Permalight
• Label: Brushfire
• Year of Release: 2010
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: tosnob on 2010-03-17

One has to wonder why Rogue Wave even bothered to release their fourth album Permalight. The band refuses to take a stand or head in any distinct direction on this, the most non-threatening, parent-friendly indie rock record of the year.

What Rogue Wave has done is grabbed styles from every Ben Gibbard project and watered them down. The record is full of Death Cab-style vocals ("We Will Make a Song Destroy"), which are annoying enough when Death Cab does them. In the hands of Rogue Wave they are downright grating.

Following in the theme we've been presented a handful of electronic-focused tracks, like "Sleepwalker" and the title track, that sound like Postal Service-lite. That may be a hit with Owl City fans, but for most of society it will mean a quick turn of the dial.

Making things worse is the fact that the album is almost entirely devoid of catchy tunes. With the exception of the jangly "Good Morning" and the clapper "I'll Never Leave You", there is nary a decent hook to be had.

The result is an album that is about as M.O.R. as indie rock can get. If that's the boundary the band wanted to push then that's fine, but it screams "cheap attempt at mainstream radio play".

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