Frogpond
Safe Ride Home
C2/Columbia
Frogpond’s downfall is their frighteningly nonexistent ability to be engaging. Their songs, rock with tinges of pop and a grunge mentality sprinkled sporadically like a bad supermarket birthday cake, are sometimes mildly catchy. Even the female vocals, something along the lines of a yodel-less Cranberries, aren’t too cacophonous. However, no song truly ever encompasses the listener. There’s just something missing.
Possibly it’s their slight preoccupation with image, as all band photos in the insert show a groggy bunch with someone wearing fur, and they even go so far as to give a “special thanks” to Urban Decay. The confusion between which Hole album they’d rather emulate might have provided for the watered-down consistently non-invigorating tunes on Safe Ride Home . But either way, Frogpond just takes their rock and completely misses the mark.
