Imagine this: you've just finished your first year of college and want to party with your lover, who you've been in-love with for over six months. Your lover has cheated on you before with two of your roommates, but you made him/her a copy of that Bright Eyes CD he/she loves and you feel you've turned a corner in your relationship. So, you take your lover out to dinner at TGI Friday's before going to your best friend Dave's house. His folks left town and he's having a party. Everything is just awesome... AWESOME!!!
Sound like your life? Then Leave Your Name, the debut album from Omaha's Statistics, might be your new favorite obsession. How can you not love an album that mentions the stuff going on right now, like MP3s and corporate crime ("Hours Seemed Like Days")? Lead Singer Denver Dalley tells me to "just press rewind," and I think he really means it. But I have other plans. It's hard to fault Dalley for trying to mix '80s keyboards a la Duran Duran with a guitar rock sound, but the problem is that too many bands have tried this before, and it's not a terribly new concept. Just check out the underrated '80s band, The Sound.
Leave Your Name fails to provide proof that Omaha is a hotbed for exciting music. This album has been done before and lacks the originality or quality of songwriting to merit repeated listens or set it apart from the scores of others playing this type of music. But if you want an album that follows instead of leads, Leave Your Name might have the melodic guitar chords and sugary keyboard sounds you're seeking.
1. Sing a Song
2. Leave Your Name
3. The Grass Is Always Greener
4. Mr. Nathan
5. Accomplishment
6. Hours Seemed Like Days
7. Chairman of the Bored
8. 2 A.M.
9. A Number Not a Name
10. Reminisce
11. Circular Memories