Miranda Sound

Miranda Sound’s new album is self-titled, which is always a statement of sorts for a band, a way to say, “This album is exactly who we are.” It was a good move for Miranda Sound, because this is the Columbus indie pop band at its best. But it’s also a bit tragic, because this is the last we’ll hear from this band. Miranda Sound is calling it quits after this album and a brief spate of shows, kicking off with a record release show at the Ravari Room on Friday.

There’s always been something vaguely familiar about Miranda’s sound, but not because it mimics any one band in particular. The band incorporates all its various influences in a way that’s entirely original and addictive. This new album calls to mind bands such as R.E.M., Pinback and Death Cab for Cutie, but with edges more jagged and punky than those bands--that’s why you may have heard Fugazi or Jawbox references before. And then there’s those confessional lyrics, which conjure early emo torchbearers Sunny Day Real Estate much more than the cringe-inducing current brand of pop-punk emo.

Miranda Sound was recorded with Jon Chinn at Central City Recording in Clintonville, the band’s second full-length on Robert Duffy’s (donewaiting.com) Sunken Treasure label after migrating from Standard Recording Company. The production is nice and crisp (other than a couple audible computer hiccups on the final track) with an overall softer, smoother and more mature feel than the 2006 release, Western Reserve.

The songs often veer into unexpected directions, still remaining pop songs at the core but not necessarily following the verse-chorus-verse mandate. Guitars go from straightforward power chords and peel off into inventive riffs that are sometimes in weird time signatures, like the 5/4 time of “Kaleidoscope.” Billy Peake and Dan Gerken’s double vocal attack works just as well as the double guitars, complementing each other and adding layers of interest and intensity to the tunes.

It’s an album about growing up and the inevitable pains that come along with that. “Leave Everyone Behind” is a companion to Reserve’s “The Lull of Youngstown,” as Peake looks back at a sixth-grade picture from a soccer field in Youngstown: “The kid inside that picture filled my head with expectations/ I’m fighting for the kid’s approval, but approval never comes.” But aging also has apparently brought some perspective as Peake sings of the “certainty in older years with the clarity of truth.”

“Sleepfighting” finds the Ohio boys reminiscing back to the time when they were fresh on the Columbus scene: “Can’t wait … for Sunken Treasure to come along/ Can’t wait … for Little Brother’s to come along.” “Ugly Elevator” delves into the political realm, but only briefly--the song’s only a minute long. “Quilt Therapy” is probably the best track on the record, though I anticipate it’s one of those albums where the favorite changes each week. The song equates a relationship breakdown with a physical collapse (“When you’re done, you know it all at once/ Your muscles tearing out, you’re so limp”), a painfully accurate analogy.

There’s really no dross or dregs on Miranda Sound, just 10 songs that go by in 30 minutes. Yet the album as a whole feels complete and concise rather than abridged. For a band that’s been one of the gems of the scene for the past few years, it’s not a bad way to go out.

mp3: Miranda Sound - Falling Man
mp3: Miranda Sound - Leave Everyone Behind