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Album Review

Afternoon Naps
Parade Happy Happy Birthday to Me

Article written by James G - Feb 7, 2010

Afternoon Naps - Parade

Afternoon Naps centre around Tom Dechristofaro and Leia Hohenfeld, from Cleveland, Ohio, and ‘Parade’ is their third album, after 2007’s ‘Sunbeamed’ and 2008’s mini album ‘Snowday’. It is released on ‘Happy Happy Birthday to Me’ records….

Following this information, and watching the tweeometer nudge toward 'maximum', you may not be surprised to hear that the 10 songs that make up ‘Parade’ are breezy, uptempo guitar and organ driven slices of 3-minute niceness. There’s nothing startlingly original or ground breaking here and comparisons are easily drawn - ‘Plum City Fight Song’ - Go-Betweens, ‘The Fall Companion’ - 1000 Violins, ‘Discoverse’ - Orange Juice’s funkier moments… I could go on.

For me, the highlights come when the female vocal is allowed to shine in its own right, ‘The Day We Started’ and ‘Catholic School’ NOT sounding like a thousand other acts. Maybe it’s a wee bit of bad luck that Afternoon Naps are around at the same time as something so equally derivative yet gloriously original as Standard Fare. Nevertheless, it’s all professionally done, and, although it's all a bit too studied and lacking real soul for me, will doubtless have many fans…

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/afternoonnapsband

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