"if you set enough monkeys banging at enough keyboards, eventually they'll make something good" --old punk proverb
( ( ( synthpunk experiment out of nova ) ) )

The Memphis quintet Mouserocket, a sort of supergroup made up of members of such esteemed outfits as Vending Machine, the River City Tanlines and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, is supposed to be an afterthought. Tanlines (and Lost Sounds and Black Sunday) leader Alicja Trout started the group a dozen years ago as an outlet for some quiet songs. And to this day the now-more-adult-oriented group, which performs sporadically, still finds itself competing with its members other side projects.

Even with a established name and fan base (its last record, 2008’s Pretty Loud, earned an impressive 7 rating from online hipster Bible Pitchfork.com, Mouserocket only set aside a scant five days to record its recently released third album, Cicada Sounds.

In light of the finished product, available in local stores and through Bandcamp, it seems clear that the haste was more for aesthetic or financial reasons than a gauge of how much commitment and thought members of Mouserocket put into the project. In fact, the new record may well be the pinnacle of achievement for all involved, a catchy, smartly crafted alternative rock album that stacks up with the best of recent memory.

Featuring the excellent rhythm section of Robert Barnett on drums and Hemant Gupta on bass as well as the invaluable stamp of Jonathan Kirkscey on, most significantly, cello, at its core, the appeal of Mouserocket still remains the tension between the songwriting styles of Trout and co-front person Robby Grant (Vending Machine). The two have clearly had an impact on each other.

On songs like “I Can’t Keep My Hands Off You” and “How To Say No,” Trout, whose hooks still retain a spark of the band’s youthful inspiration, shades her usual hard-driving rock style with all sorts of intriguing harmonic shifts and unexpected progressions. In contrast to Trout’s five songs, Grant contributes only two (the eighth, set closer “Flying Saucer Home” is from Brooklyn musician Timothy Feleppa), but they may be the collection’s best, with the ever quirky tunesmith not over thinking things on tracks like “Take More.”


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