Malvern don't seem concerned with channeling their influences through a modern perspective. They'd rather recreate them without the mess those bands left in their wake. They have a strong set of college-rock luminaries guiding them (e.g. Dinosaur Jr., The Replacements, Belle & Sebastian), but without any distinguishing features, Malvern can't escape the "alt-rock lite" tag.

Most of these tracks are too respectful to leave much of an impression, floating on clean guitar and hushed-vocal niceties that move softly in one ear and out the other. Rocking out yields varying degrees of success. In "The Vaguest of Pleas", frontman Allan Lewis tries his hand at Vedder-style screaming (not good) while "Thingaes" seems tossed off -- which is all the better, as it's lazily catchy and captures the desired slacker vibe.

It's difficult to say whether Malvern is opting for unprofessionalism as a raison d'etre. The drums in "Patio" are curiously offstep, whereas the rest of the album's drumming features nicely syncopated fills. "The Sound of Halifax" offers such an obvious vocal melody that it seems to be making fun of itself. They don't have the sense of style to pull off sardonic the way Pavement does, so it sounds sloppy instead. Besides lacking energy, Malvern are really just green. They've only been together a year, and it shows; there's no reason these guys won't shape up after another year of writing and playing together.