NYC's Shane Searles certainly has the bloodlines - he's the nephew of Mike Love and distant cousin of Brian Wilson. And he certainly doesn't shy away from his heritage, as the opening track of his solo debut Pop/Rock (catchy title, eh?) is a cover of "God Only Knows".
But it isn't a note-for-note cover; it's an amped-up version that sounds like it was re-imagined by Weezer. Pop/Rock runs the gamut of power pop styles: "Freak Show" is "modern" power pop a la Rooney and Waltham; "Basement Window", one of the album's catchier tracks (and reprised in a "lounge mix" as a bonus track), has a Barenaked Ladies sound; the more midtempo "Lady Jade Eyes" (my favorite track) almost sounds like a lost Brendan Benson track; "Outta My Head" veers into Jellyfish/Checkpoint Charley territory, and "All The Way" is pub-rock reminiscent of The Figgs.
Wade into the streams at his myspace page, where you can hear the four of the tracks mentioned above, and sample the rest (including the "God Only Knows" cover) at cd baby, where of course it's available for purchase. Kind of like the professional athlete whose father was a ballplayer, Searles has the power pop/rock fundamentals down cold here.
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