Dirt Bike Annie
Show Us Your Demons
Dirtnap
Dirt Bike Annie embodies the lost spirit of “fun” boy-girl indie pop-punk, leaving out the angst and emo that have sunk their canines into the genre in recent years. Okay, so this isn’t the sort of album that will see you through a life-shattering breakup or provide solace as you watch a loved one suffer through the final stages of a terminal illness, but you’ve got an entire Joy Division catalog and a smattering of the better Cure albums for that, right?
Dark and brooding this ain’t. Show Us Your Demons is a simple, fun record that possesses the same sort of quirky post-Pixies sound that was championed in the early ’90s by the likes of Fountains of Wayne, Nada Surf and Weezer’s much-loved blue album, but it is peppered with a little too much bubblegum for my tastes. Although it’s fun, there’s a distressing lack of depth to most of the music here, which means it will never have the staying power that resonates from any of the previously mentioned bands.
Nevertheless, Dirt Bike Annie plows through 13 tracks with plenty of honesty, energy and enthusiasm. “Battle Lines” and “Two Ton Wait,” in particular, are tremendously catchy tunes that might be worth a listen even if you (like me) believe that punk music without angst or anger is like a zombie movie without chainsaws.
Dirt Bike Annie: http://www.dirtbikeannie.com/
