Borderland

Very few bands can successfully bypass the dues-paying, small-club sound for arena-friendly grandiosity. But with a larger-than-life approach to Britpop, The Chevin is one such quartet. (It's named after a ridge that looms above its hometown of Otley, West Yorkshire.) The aptly titled “Champion” opens the group's 2012 debut album, Borderland, with the pomp and confidence of a group that rocks with the stylish assuredness of The Killers and the handsome bravado of Coldplay. The following “Drive” is an equally powerful single, with frontman Coyle Girelli inflecting like Chris Martin; then he ramps up to channel the soaring timbre of a young, mulleted Boy-era Bono. Rather than take the obvious route here, Mat Steel’s guitar playing has more in common with the spacy textures created by The Verve’s Nick McCabe (rather than The Edge’s penchant for stomping on multiple delay and echo pedals). Hints of early-'00s post-post-punk surface in the uplifting and catchy “Blue Eyes,” save for jangly '60s guitar tones in the verses. The epic title track proves to be the album’s jewel.