Be aware the Nat-O-Bot!
Nate Allen has made the bold decision to join forces with his wife to form Destroy Nate Allen, a band whereby both members sing, and I can imagine do so with large beaming grins. There is a party feel that is part kooky and part ditzy fun.
The first track will get you ready for what is to come, Waking Up Is Hard To Do which has strings that sound like they are attacking each other as Tessa shouts out the name of the track over fast drums, however Emergency is better at showing the bands strengths as the low smooth vocals twin perfectly with the higher slightly shouting vocals in a great catchy slice of Pop/Punk. Chick Flick has a nice Ska feel, with fat bass and quick melodic guitar riffs. The band show that they have a great sense of humour and in We Talk Occasionally On The Internet and the comedic observations of Our First Apartment (Ghetto) are songs that could easily been written by Punk-pranksters The Vandals. Nice stuff.
We have the party sing-a-long of Boobie Bar, followed by the acoustic jig of, Long Weekend Blues, and the horn section is pulled out and dusted off for the rambunctious Distracted Nat-O-Bot. El Diablo Tacos Are The Best plods along with a Mexican feel, before the mix-up thoughtfulness of Hospital, and the chilled Acoustic-Punk of I Need To Know comes over as a Blink 182-esque slow song.
The short-shot of We Are Gonna Make It is pretty much an intro into the fast-paced shout-anthem of, Almost Out Of Texas, and there is some great nutritional and health advice in the informative Vegetables which could well be a slice of rock cabaret, before the last song, Great Ideas which pulls no punches in the complex layering of brass section, strings and thumping drums and ravishing riffs. This is a great song and a fine ending to the album.
The last double album that I reviewed for Nate was in truth a flung-together mass of songs that jumped around with ideas, and performed in a simplistic, if not still an entertaining way, however here the band have grown and given us a much more mature and well-rounded bunch of songs. These are catchy, memorable and dripping with tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Great stuff.