Home > Music > CD Review > The Morning Benders, 'Talking Through Tin Cans'

The Morning Benders, 'Talking Through Tin Cans'

Bay Area indie rockers shine on melodic debut

By Jeff Miller

Special to Metromix
May 5, 2008

Critic's Rating:

• Email
• Print View
• Share
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Google
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • Yahoo
• Add To Favorites
• Add to playlist

Backstory: A melodic-rock Berkeley, Calif., foursome used to self-recording and releasing EPs, the Morning Benders made the jump to the pro studio when singer-songwriter Chris Chu got an unpaid job in a recording studio, where he recorded this—the group’s full length debut.

Why you should care: Virtually every buzz band of the year—from the Kooks to MGMT—has hand-picked the Morning Benders as tourmates.

Verdict: It's obvious from the first song, the retro-feeling “Damnit Anna,” that the Morning Benders have one foot in the past and one in the present; the song is a perfect amalgam of Kinks-ian power-pop melody and Shins-ish acoustic lilt. The short, sweet album continues the trend, with foot-stomping drums, smartly syncopated electric leads and sing-songy choruses befitting both a classic rock aesthetic and a modern rock sensibility.

X-Factor: The band's MySpace page has a Madlib-style fill-in-the-blanks Morning Benders bio—make up your own nonsensical anecdotes about the band!