The title of The Lush, Romantic Weirdness speaks volumes about the debut album by L.A.-based trio Italian Japanese. On many of the tracks, a smooth, swirling spiral of guitars and keyboards floats like a breathy whisper through melodic tunes that opt for what feels like genuine emotion instead of the arch attitude of so many other contemporaneous indie rock bands. But it's not all creamy, dreamy stuff — there's a terse, tough side to the Italian Japanese sound that crops up just when you feel like things are about to drift off into the ether. At times, the band briefly kicks into the kind of dance-rock beat that would be flogged to death in the hands of, say, the Killers or the Bravery, but they only remain in that mode long enough to shake the sleep dust out of their eyes for a moment, and then it's back into another poignant, atmospheric soundscape. The way Italian Japanese keep bobbing back and forth between one dynamic extreme and another on The Lush, Romantic Weirdness, it's fortunate that they apparently number solid structure high among their priorities, to keep listeners from losing their bearings. It also doesn't hurt that Allen Colaneri is an actual singer with a capital "s," one who can really wrap his voice around a tune, as opposed to a "vocalist" who relies exclusively on "personality" to put the songs over, as is the case with too many of the band's peers. Ultimately, Italian Japanese bring to bear a professionalism that proves they're ready for prime time, but keep enough of that titular idiosyncrasy in play to keep things interesting. ~ J. Allen, Rovi

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