Review: Pomegranates - Everything Is Alive

Label: Lujo Records

Released: May 13, 2008

The liner notes of Everything Is Alive sent me into a wonderful daydream. As the opening drum loop circled through my ears, I read the line, "We experienced the hospitality of strangers letting us spend the night on their couches or their floors." I was immediately taken to a pleasant picture of the band curled up in sleeping bags amidst my menagerie of fuzzy dogs, basking in the afterglow of a great show at the Ottobar as we all took turns playing our favorite albums on the crappy little stereo in my living room.

Then the vocals kicked in, and my fantasy fell apart. Even though I listened to their EP, Two Eyes, I forgot about the singer with the really cute voice. My goodness, I really forgot how cute her voice is. Where will she sleep? Does she get my bed? If so, I guess I have to sleep on the floor, and my back gets all wonky when I sleep on the floor. And what if she's dating one of the guys in the band? I don't really want them getting it on in my bed, but I'm not going to be a jerk about it either. Who am I to stand in the way of young love?

And then I remembered. There are only guys in Pomegranates. Great. So Everything Is Alive is a near-perfect indie-pop gem that has me totally questioning my sexuality.

Okay, seriously, I really like this album, but it is a bit disconcerting that one of the singers -- I don't know if it's Isaac Karns or Joey Cook -- has an incredibly cute voice that makes me think of holding hands and running through the park in summertime. Don't get me wrong, he's got a good voice. It just reminds me a lot of Palomar. And that's cool, because I like Palomar, and frankly, getting compared to Palomar is a high compliment coming from me. Palomar knows pop, and Pomegranates know it almost as well. Pomegranates are a little bit heavy sometimes and a little jangly at other times, but at their core, they make fun and upbeat indie pop with the kind of hooks that you don't remember until you put the album on for the second time, and then you sing along with every single song because you remember them all. This is pop, in a way that crappy American Idol wishes it could be pop.

Everything Is Alive is a very good record. It makes me excited for their next album, because these guys just might have a great record in them.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go call my shrink and tell him why I'm having dreams about skipping through Central Park as I'm holding hands with an indie rock boy in a sundress.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

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