Roark

With a voice like a bird’s, Roark’s only member, Brian O’Neal, isn’t signed to a major label, which is a surprise. He’s got pop songs just as slick as the Fray’s, bridges just as enraging as Snow Patrol’s and absolutely nothing original. The alt-radio stations will eat this kid up. They sound so incredibly a like that Drive Thru’s the Early November and Roark could possibly be twin sisters in this post-punk, wussy rock age and oh, how alarming, they’ve toured together. Roark’s got talent and a few elements in this debut album hint at the need to lunge out of the self-imposed confines, like the tranquil string arrangements on "Take It Slow” or the barely there handclaps on "Song from the T.V.,” which are hardly sufficient for such an empty song. We Canadians like our handclaps loud and clear, not wallowing behind tacky chord progressions.