Keep Quiet, They Might Hear Us

Phoenix pop-punkers the January Taxi's debut album is the sort of record that sounds like it was tailor-made to be played in the background of The OC or some similar teen drama. You know the drill: quiet verses that explode into riff-heavy choruses, lyrics that are all sensitive 'n' stuff, tempos that never move beyond a sedate midtempo even when they're supposed to be rockin' hard. That sort of thing. For what it is, Keep Quiet, They Might Hear Us isn't bad; one doesn't get the sense that the group is deliberately trying to be the next Jimmy Eat World or anything like that, and several tracks, particularly the opening "The Ashtray Parade," are quite good, if you like this sort of thing. However, the album was reissued in the fall of 2005 with a new bonus track, "The Hellos," that's far better than anything on the original release. A reverie for acoustic guitar and droning waves of mild feedback (think of a collaboration between Death Cab for Cutie and Yo La Tengo), "The Hellos" bodes well for the January Taxi's future work if they continue down this potentially more interesting path.