Review: Porcupine, The Trouble With You

Porcupine

The Trouble With You
B-

Porcupine's debut The Trouble with You doesn't add anything new to the modern rock canon, but the band follows the formula of their predecessors well enough to turn out a number of solidly enjoyable tracks. Choppy guitar hooks and swirling feedback dominate these songs, but propulsive drumming and forceful vocals keep the album from drifting into shoe-gaze territory. Porcupine are at their best when they indulge in their experimental side; Exit 180, with its shifty time signatures, and Dead Mint Club, driven by a rugged swing beat, are immediate highlights, while So Far So Good and Dark Mood play out like by-the-numbers nineties jams. The second half of the album drifts into repetitiveness and predictability, but overall The Trouble With You has enough spark to suggest some promise for the future of the band.

-Mark Joseph Stern

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