Noogie
Learn To Swim
Trauma
Noogie is one of those names that you squint at, say “ehhhhh,” and wonder if it has some deep, existential meaning or is simply an homage to knuckles on the head. In this case, the explanation is most likely that of the latter, as the four baby-faced members of Noogie are, from the looks of them, somewhere in high school. Regardless, Learn To Swim is hardly a throwaway album. It’s a solid piece of indie-rock with a pop-punk influence, an often-energetic grouping of tempo-changing, neat and clean songs – almost all of which are about girls, in some way or another.
But for one ever-addressed topic, Noogie takes a few good angles at it. There’s the straight-forward on-the-rocks relationship in “Danger” (“What’s the point of hanging out/ when all we do is fight/ And that’s all we’ve done tonight”), the dripping melodramatic wallowing in “Remote Controller” (“Three years since we started/ This teenage dream, and now it looks as if it could be ours/ but the TV screen just won’t let go its hold of me/ well I just can’t quite believe that you are gone”), and the quasi-bitter reminiscent lonesomeness of “Six Little Days” (“Well I just can’t get your voice out of my head/ The way you looking when you’re trying so hard to take back what you just said”). While Noogie is nothing revolutionary, they’re a tight band with some fun, catchy and loud songs, and Learn To Swim is definitely worth a listen.
Trauma, 15165 Ventura Blvd., Suite 320, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
