Reeling from bassist Chris Saathoff’s death in a 2004 hit-and-run, Chin Up Chin Up finished their sublimely hooky debut, We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers, by culling his parts from rehearsal tapes. But the title track of this follow-up proves Saathoff’s absence has not prevented the group from crystallizing their hard-pop sound: refreshing, breezy rhythms propel densely intermeshed guitars and Jeremy Bolen’s incantatory vocals (a perfect amalgam of Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell).
Now Hear This: Chin Up Chin Up – “Islands Sink” DOWNLOAD MP3 Chin Up Chin Up – “This Harness Can’t Ride Anything” DOWNLOAD MP3
