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Dept. of Energy
Faster
Roam
Put simply, great pop music is pure aural velocity, its choruses managing the kind of emotional exhilaration that leaves the listener hitting repeat and holding their side all night. The follow up to 2007's marvelous Held By Waits, The Dept. Of Energy's Faster comes equipped with this kind of musical speed and the result is one of the best pop albums to arrive from anywhere for quite some time. Led by singer Robb Benson, this Seattle trio's numbers come with an immediacy that's unrivalled by their musical peers. "Look, all I'm doing is spinning and watching it twist," Benson sings on the flawless album opener "The Nice Sleep." He's doing more than that; he's gliding through the emotional world and narrating all the angles of the human heart. No false moves are made on this ten-song collection and as a result, there's much to recommend: The pulsing, organ-soaked wonder of "Josephine"; the easy pop charm of "Solid"; or the swirling "Mind Over Matter." Later, "The Shift" packs a dizzying punch; "Play Fighting" builds to a delicious froth, as Benson declares over and over, "play fighting is real fighting," and the breathless album closer ("Faster") ends these proceedings with a riveting organ and drum crescendo. Benson's every bit as genius as Brian Wilson or Lindsey Buckingham in that he knows how to find the hooks and, like some kind of musical ninja, throw them in just the right places so they connect every time. This is pop music. This is the stuff that brings you to your knees.
—Alex Green
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