While the new album from Canadian band Kestrels is being promoted because of the presence of J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) on guitar, the band's sound is distinctive enough to merit attention on its own. Don't Dream, out on Friday via Darla, is full of sharp, scuzzy-around-the-edges power-pop. Every tune here rings with the kind of promise far too few indie bands bring to the game anymore.
"Vanishing Point" sounds a whole lot like U.K. rockers Silver Sun, and that's the highest praise I could give any new power-pop group, while "Don't Dream" recalls Feeder a tiny bit. Now, while I'm comparing some of this Kestrels material to fairly mainstream acts, the tunes here on this album are, as I said, just rough enough around the edges to seem exactly the sort of thing that J Mascis would endorse with his presence.
"A Way Out" rocks in a wonderfully direct way, even as "Everything is New" weaves in that Mascis guitar with washes of sound that threaten to overwhelm the hook. It's precisely the kind of thing that recalls early Teenage Fanclub and, obviously, peak Dino Jr.. Elsewhere, "Keep It Close" brings the fuzzy hooks to the fore, even as closer "Say Less" offers up an expansion of the style heard earlier on the album. Chad Peck makes all of this work quite well, and if the tunes have a similar vibe, that's okay because they're all uniformly punchy and catchy. And those are qualities that make me recommend this record very highly.
Don't Dream is out on Friday via Darla.
More details on Kestrels via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Hive Mind / Kestrels]