The indiest.
London based all male four piece Via Satellite are about as indie-pop as it's possible to be; quiet, jangly, winsome and melodic. Although they apparently have influences including Nada Surf, Death Cab For Cutie and Ben Kweller, they are miles more straightforward than these bands, in fact even though they have a really American feel, they come across more like Ash's baby brother. They have some mildly catchy tunes on offer, but as a whole the sound is just, well, pleasant: there are no jagged edges to get your teeth, no quirks or defining characteristics that make their sound unique or interesting, so the album just slips past without really leaving any impressions behind to remember it by.
If you like your tunes gentle and melodic though, you might find some little gems hiding away here. The folk tinged 'Paradise' has a sweet summery vibe; 'See To Believe' is pretty danceable, one of the more upbeat tunes; 'Sorry' is a much more meaty track with slightly heavier guitars, a really good tune and a lovely sexy bass line and is definitely the stand out track on the record – it makes you wonder how good an album it could have been with more tracks like this on it.
Overall though, apart from the odd good track there isn't a great deal going on and quite a few of the tunes are similar, it feels often like there is a spark of passion missing – it's all a bit middle of the road. Take a song like 'So Excited' which as the title suggests should be a shimmering pop gem, but the lacklustre performance from the vocalist makes it strangely the opposite of the lyrics. Often this is the main problem with most of the tunes, they rely quite heavily on the vocals; however, the vocals are very weak and let the songs down. It's a shame really because there's definitely a lot of potential here but it doesn't really get the chance to blossom in to anything more substantial.