Ricochet in Bloomington, MN

By this point the
Mighty Lemon Drops
no longer sounded exactly like
Echo & the Bunnymen
. But they do still fit squarely into that same, very well-defined and sonically limited Wall of Pop category. If you like moderately melodic pop music with lots of repetition and finely crafted, densely arranged guitar, this is the band for you. The
Lemon Drops
do write good songs, and occasionally even great ones:
"Out of Touch"
sounds like an outtake from the first
Clash
album (that's a compliment) and
Susie Hug
of the
Katydids
brings her effortless vocal grace to bear on the lovely
"Falling Deep."
For the most part, though, the songs on
Ricochet
run together into fuzzy musical mush. Mostly what these guys get praised for is melodicism, but you can't really hear it -- instead, what you mostly hear is texture. It's good texture, but it just doesn't ever seem to be enough to sustain interest for the length of a whole album. [
Wounded Bird
's 2008 reissue featured bonus tracks and extra live cuts.] ~ Rick Anderson