Artist: Viva K
Album: Viva K
Label: Stinky Records
Tracks: 12
Length: 45:24

If you make music these days you’re going to sound like someone else. While theoretically it should be possible to do something totally new and inventive the reality is that it just won’t happen. So when your cd starts off and the best comparison is a band that 90% of the indie rock fan base probably hasn’t heard of, you’re doing a good thing.

The first track on “Viva K” reminds me of what would happen if you’d take Les Georges Lenningrad’s female vocalist and give her a more traditional alternative rock song to sing. It’s catchy, but has that good, weird-and-skewed quality to it, too. If the whole cd was like that I would be recommending this project in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the singing becomes normal after the first track and while in the next four songs there are some pretty good tracks they stop reaching for the stars.

What really kills this cd, however, is track six, “Light Light Light.” It is really nothing more than an attempt to be U2. “Light Light Light” kills the momentum that they’d sustained over the first half of the album and the cd grinds to a halt. Over the last half there are a couple of good tunes, but they’re not powerful enough to pick the cd up again.

“Viva K” would have made a much more successful EP where the band could have taken the five or six pretty good songs and had a fairly strong cd. Unfortunately the filler really kills this album. If you see them live and really enjoy the show this cd might make a nice pick up. But otherwise don’t worry about it.