Artist: Admiral Twin
Album: The Center of the Universe
Label: The Pop Collective
Release Date: October 16, 2007
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. Good as Gold
2. In My Veins
3. Take Me Down
4. Smash It Up
5. Say Your Prayers
6. Get Well Soon
7. You Hung the Moon
8. Fear
9. Renegade Planet
10. Monument
11. The Best at Being Lonely
12. I Confess
13. Big Black Car
14. If Hell Is like You
15. Silence

Charming pop-rock jams with a sensible indie twang ooze from this Tulsa, Oklahoma, three-piece. With a soulful nod to the classics that slivers through the guitar licks, Admiral Twin avoid being too poppy for a rock band, but the choruses and basic formats of the songs keep them firmly planted in pop territory. There is an element of innovation through selective group vocals and electronics, but the overall point of pop music is not to change the world of music, only to take what exists and make it sound good. And this is what Admiral Twin do in a smooth and subtle way. Sometimes songs trail on for too long, repeating those catchy choruses one too many times to maintain their enjoyability, and the album overall is way too long, clocking in at just shy of an hour in fifteen songs. Feats like that should be saved for more experimental bands, not repetitive pop-rock. Instead, it should have been cut down to the best ten or eleven songs, which would definitely include the highlights of “Smash It Up,” an upbeat and original tune with strong melodies and a great pre-chorus, and the low-key and extremely pleasant sounding “If Hell Is like You” with surprisingly biting lyrics. The combo (clash?) of these lyrics with this sound is musical brilliance. The Center of the Universe is the band’s fifth release to date, showing obvious maturity and experienced song-writing. Cut out the filler, and it could have been a complete winner.

6/10

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