The Morning Benders – Talking Through Tin Cans (CD)

The Morning Benders are gradually gaining their own audience after touring in support of acts like Death Cab For Cutie and The Kooks. While they have released a number of EPs (“Loose Change”, “Boarded Doors”, and “Waiting For A War”) in the past, The Morning Benders’ “Talking Through Tin Cans” is their full-length debut. Potential listeners have to know that a band is good if a PR firm’s label picks them up, and this belief is furthered when the first strains of “Damnit Anna” begin. “Damnit Anna” is a track that really brings listeners back to the music of acts like The Monkees. This means that there is a very poppy, sixties flair to The Morning Benders that hides a different set of emotions than would ever be present in a track from that period.

The sense of lost love, the bitterness, and a little bit of hatred is obscured by the peppy sounds created by the instrumental side of things. “Waiting For A War” is a another high point on “Talking Through Tin Cans”, a track that continues to foster the older sound previously mentioned. However, there is a more current approach taken during this track that firmly places them in the new-folk style of acts like Bright Eyes, while still having something present that speaks to a wider swath of listeners. “Boarded Doors” is the first track that takes a complete 180, providing an angular sound that meshes well with the nucleus of The Morning Benders’ sound. It is as if Herman Hermit’s had their wires crossed with a sterile, antiseptic type of eighties act.

One cannot deny the catchiness of the chorus, to which the heartbeat-sounding guitar track provides an immediate and diametrically opposed sound. The tracks on “Talking Through Tin Cans” are built on the work of a number of previous acts, but what The Morning Benders do during the course of this album is create a unique sound that listeners will be unable to confuse with the creative work of any other band, whether past or present. If what has been described above sounds the least bit interesting to you, make it a point – drive two hundred miles if you have to – and see The Morning Benders. I just have a feeling that their live show will be simply fantastic, and that seeing them now will be the necessary step to see a band before they become the “next big thing”.

Top Tracks: Heavy Hearts, Crosseyed

Rating: 8.6/10

The Morning Benders – Talking Through Tin Cans / 2008 +1 / 11 Tracks / http://www.themorningbenders.com /