Matt Fink
December 2, 2002
...continued
Still, to say that the Nourallahs are derivative and dismiss them would be to miss
out on some truly exceptional songwriting. The delicately chiming "A Morning Cigarette"
features all the perfect brotherly harmonies, haunted melodies, and layers of textures
that are the hallmarks of great pop songcraft. Further, the simple piano intro and
swelling levels of ringing keyboards and rolling drums of "Down" and the darkly lilting
finger-picked acoustic guitar of "Missing You" rank as similar high marks. Strangely,
the spirit of the songwriting seems to be centered from their Texas home, landing
somewhere in England circa 1966. The almost unbearable whimsy of tracks like very
Who-ish "Public School" (with a repeated refrain of "Ooh, I love my public school")
drive home this point. Of course, with 18 tracks in tow, retaining both balance
and consistent innovation becomes a tenuous proposition. On this end, they don't
fare quite as well, as the songs grow a bit similar by the end, melding into an
altogether pleasant collection of synthy pop songs that would be better served
with slightly different arrangements.
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