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Reviewed by compgeekgirl
Southofmainstream.com

Tinsel Life
SQUINT

Squint's Tinsel Life is a great mixture of retro and modern style, with late 80's/early 90's power pop/post punk musical style adn late 90's modern rock vocal style. The two styles don't clash at all, and instead create a crunchy pop album that should appeal to a fairly broad audience.

For some reason they remind me of a mixture of the Replacements, Flourescein, For Squirrels, The Goo Goo Dolls, Less Than Jake and a little of the Ramones. Lead singer Dane Adrian has a voice that immediately sounds familiar, but at the same time is unique enough that you can't quite wrap your mind or tongue around a likely comparison.

"Glimmer And Phrase", the second track, is incredibly radio friendly and reminds me of early Goo Goo Dolls songs that I always thought should have got decent radio play. "Anthem For Closure" has great guitar sound and is the perfect anthem in that it's catchy, singable lyrics are indicative of an almost universal "ailment" we often suffer:

"...self abusive self indulgence will get the best of me
self abusive self indulgence will get the best of me..."

"A Glimpse At Why" reminds me immediately of For Squirrels, one of my favorite band finds of the late 90's.

The lyrics are intelligent without resorting to 4-syllable words that wouldn't, frankly, fit with the power pop simplicity and catchiness of the music. Squint never rely on obvious and overused rhymes, nor do they, thankfully, ever come close to white-boy rap.

To be honest, there's not a song on the disc that I don't like. And severa of them I like immensely. It's incredibly catchy and fun, with interesting vocals and several songs that seem ripe for the picking by a smart program director at a decent alternative radio station. This band and this release should appeal to music lovers pretty much across the board.

I'd like to see Squint stretch themselves a bit from their comfort zone...that being well-crafted, power pop/post punk/modern rock. A disc that did that while continuing the overall excellence of musicianship and vocal style would easily earn a perfect 5-stars.

Genre: Power Pop/Post Punk/Modern Rock
Released: 2003

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