Underwater Demolition

(Surge)

It’s nice to know someone is still making jangly guitar pop, with solidly-constructed hooks and attractive vocal melodies. Underwater Demolition, the new album from Motorway, collects 14 such songs, though four of them are hidden at the end of the disc after five or so minutes of silence (question to ponder: Why do that?), and each is as precise and charmingly-designed as the workings of a watch.

The sound isn’t surprising since it’s largely produced by Better Than Ezra’s Tim Drummond, but Motorway is in no way a BTE Jr. In fact, Motorway’s pop compass points toward the bands that influenced Peter Holsapple’s dB’s: the Kinks and sundry Britpop, and the melody to "Caroline" recalls a Cheap Trick song, though not "Oh Caroline." "Yonn" begins with the sort of riff that initially drew Byrds comparisons to R.E.M., but like the better guitar pop bands, Motorway effectively blends the influences so that the songs all eventually sound like they’re more than the sum of their influences.

The final, hidden songs (again, why?) sound less rigorously worked-over, but ironically, the ragged edges make them a little more distinct and give them more muscle than the listed tracks. I’ll return to the live version of "Little Pills" more than the studio version because the guitar feedback and slightly snappier tempo give it more rock ‘n’ roll immediacy than the more measured, listed version.

–Alex Rawls