By David Crosby
If fun pop-rock was a meat product, Two Hours Traffic would be the best butchers on the block. The sound is clean and there’s a certain peppy, almost manic, beat to the record that guarantees the hipsters will shake around like zombies and the pop aficianados will shake their booties. The vocals seem to have the soft croon of Thomas Yorke without the whine and the guitars-even the acoustic-seem to have the intensity of a caravan of 18-wheelers barreling down a highway.
The only knock against the recording is the obvious use of a click track, because they would sound fantastic without one.The one standout track has got to be “Heatseeker” which starts off with a country-ish sound, complete with a chiming steel guitar, and soon melts into distorted rock, blowing your mind in the process. A close second would be the opening song, “Nighthawks,” buzzing along with “whoo” exclaimations as any good pop song should.
Easily one of the better CDs of recent memory, but it shouldn’t be too surprising when Joel Plaskett is producing it. This album won’t change the world, but it may be a welcome addition to most collections.