Break Up With Water School

Water School's Break Up With Water School is an endearingly ramshackle and joyous blast of melodic slacker pop that captures the sweet sound of age catching up with Generation X. Centered around the singer/songwriter duo of vocalist/guitarist Chris Meyers and vocalist/guitarist Mike Gittings, the Baltimore-based Water School display a knack for mixing catchy melodies and witty, heartfelt lyrics. Add to that some fuzzy guitar jangle, lotsa D.I.Y. harmonies, some "Daydream Believer"-esque piano, and a liberal sprinkling of country twang and you've got the makings of a great Neil Young meets Pavement analogy that stands up to repeated listening. If you catch on to the Teenage Fanclub reference in "The Home We Never Had" you'll probably dig most of what comes before and after, not the least of which includes the gorgeously epic ode to fidelity "Talkin' 'Bout Us," the countrified rambler "Firefly," and the darkly romantic "Blooms in Disguise," which features the gut-wrenchingly specific line, "you took her home with higher hopes/she left you alone with hotel soaps." Break up with Water School indeed.