April 6, 2006

By Ed Masley

Three and 1/2 Stars

The lead-off track would appear to position American Princes on the over-caffeinated Hot Hot Heat side of the Now Wave tracks, all jittery post-punk abandon with a vocalist who can't contain himself. But track two downshifts into introspective alternative-country territory, casting off the quirky vocal yelps of "Stolen Blues" while effectively setting the stage for an album that never stays in any one place long enough to have a "sound."

Which isn't such a bad approach to making records, as it turns out.

Only on "This Is the Year" do the Princes attempt to recapture the reckless abandon of the lead-off track. And they'd have made a classic single, those two, a two-sided hit in an alternative universe where music this infectious stood a chance, although it should be noted that both tracks are quietly upstaged here in the end by "Annie," a haunted breakup song that starts off sparse, setting the scene for heartache with "Someone's been calling/Hanging up on me/Annie have you started again" before bringing in strings that gently reinforce the mood where lesser string arrangements would have overwhelmed it.

But there's no real filler here as the Princes try their hand, and win, at everything from melancholy acoustic-guitar-driven ballads to chunkier mid-tempo rockers and a brooding post-Replacements anthem called "Never Grow Old."

The American Princes are at Garfield Artworks Sunday night with Midstates, Endless Mike & the Beagle Club, and the Bust, beginning at 8 p.m.