Place in the Sun
Power popis a catch-all term used to describe the music made by any band that knows a minimum of three chords and plays them loudly through electric guitars. Because of this, power pop is often frustratingly dim. Lit are the exception. OnA Place in the Sun, Lit sound like Nirvana minus the angst, replacing it with Cheap Trick's melodic sensibility. Their slice-of-Gen-X-life lyrics are comprehensible, wryly personal musings of love, lust, alcohol, and the abuses of each. "My car is in the front yard / And I'm sleeping with my clothes on / Came in through the window last night / And you're gone," frontman A. Jay Popoff relates in "My Own Worst Enemy." Popoff sings in a from-the-gut, pure rock & roll voice that never needs to scream to be powerful or emotional. The hooks, played by brother Jeremy Popoff, are bigger than a cruise-ship anchor. There is absolutely nothing unfamiliar about any of these songs, butA Place in the Sunis one of the meatiest albums of its ilk, leaving its counterparts in the dark.--Beth Massa