Let Go formed in Tempe, AZ, after the demise of local faves
the Stereo, Gloritone, and
Pollen. The new trio's eponymous debut album was recorded after it had played only a few shows together, but the rapport they've built already is nothing short of phenomenal. Chalk it up to a shared intellectual quirkiness, maybe -- two songs on this album employ the exact same lyrics to explore a single situation from four different perspectives; the band unabashedly uses an iPod on-stage to render keyboard and added guitar sounds; the singer rocks a backlighted bear suit on the album cover. But really, what it feels like is that rarest and most elusive of phenomena: genuine musical chemistry. "Bombs Away" rocks crunchily while serving up a generous portion of swooningly pretty harmonies; "Run & Hide" offers a wonderfully twisted rock-funk groove; "No Drugs, No Alcohol" invokes
the Beatles, while "Paper-Cuts" invokes
the Police in their early days. The band's most obvious contemporary influences are
Jimmy Eat World and maybe
the Format, but their melodic hooks don't give up all their charms on first listen. Give this one at least two spins, and then see if you can get it out of your player after that. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson