Album Review: Heavenly Bender by Sam Champion

Having said that, Sam Champion’s sophomore album, Heavenly Bender, is a worthy rollick. Rooted in the kind of garage-rock jam-heavy sound that bands like Built to Spill and Pavement mapped out in the early to mid-'90s, Heavenly Bender is full of exuberantly catchy sing-along anthems. Kicking off with “Like a Secret,” lead guitarist Sean Sulivan’s opening lick seems to be culled straight from the almighty canon of lo-fi garage rock, and singer/guitarist Noah Chernin offers up an equally hummable chorus of “You need it like a secret.” (A nod to Built to Spill’s breakthrough album, Keep It Like a Secret, perhaps?) “Be Mine Everyone” follows in this vein, an urgent number with yet another killer riff.

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