Superhumanoids

Urgency EP (Hit City U.S.A.)

By Joanna McNaney
Published: July 22nd, 2010 | 7:00am

Though L.A.-based Superhumanoids debut EP is titled Urgency, it’s a bit too leisurely a listen. From the get-go, the music is both overly sparse and static, and the volume at which the vocals were recorded is frustratingly low compared with the instruments. For a band that describes their music as an "electronic experiment to escape the everyday of the everyday,” it's, well, pretty everyday.

The band may have fared better had they given their female vocalist lead. With the exception of "Hey Big Bang," where listeners can hear her powerful yet understated vocals come to life, she’s resigned to the background. The male lead sounds, at best, like a muffled version of Arcade Fire’s Win Butler.

There are some highlights, though. "Contemporary Individual" sounds a little like San Diego's the Album Leaf, and the electric guitar riffs in "Dangerous Strangers" make you nostalgic for the Cure. However, those stand-out moments were few and far between. Maybe by the time a full-length CD is released, some of the Superhumanoids' amateur kinks will have worked themselves out.

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Superhumanoids official Web site

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Hit City USA Records