Low-Fi at Society High

The problem with even the best power pop (the Buzzcocks, for instance) is that the average person can only listen to so many punchy, breakneck tunes in a row before they all start to blur together. The Figgs handle this conundrum as well as any band out there but, nevertheless, they are hemmed in by the formulas of their chosen genre. Guitars crunch, basses pop, drums snap, voices sneer, and lyrics snipe. The guys squeeze maximum entertainment value out of it all, varying the tempo from time to time and throwing the occasional quirk (slide guitar, clavinet, Farfisa) into their arrangements, but they can only fend off sameness and diminishing returns for so long. You'll be forgiven if, even after repeated listenings, you have trouble remembering anything about the last six or seven tracks. On the other hand, they don't call this stuff power pop for nothing, and songs like "Favorite Shirt" and "Bus" are bracing pick-me-ups that could charm the most skeptical sophisticate.