The Postelles
...And It Shook Me
Release Date: Apr 23, 2013
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock
Record label: +1 Records
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Album Review: ...And It Shook Me by The Postelles
Fairly Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
Albert Hammond Jr. , he of Strokes fame, produced the Postelles' debut and that provides a fitting but not entirely accurate entryway to the group's second album, . .
Based on rating 7.0/10
As is the case with any New York-based rock band with a slightly retro sound, The Postelles’s greatest curse is that they will inevitably be compared with The Strokes. The fact that their self-titled debut album was produced by none other than Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. does little to alleviate that baggage. Whereas almost every track on their first album appeared to mine the same garage rock revivalist sounds that defined early Strokes albums, The Postelles of …And It Shook Me feel as though they have less to prove.
Based on rating 6/10
Several years ago, the Postelles seemed on the verge of exploding. An New York City foursome, they had a connection with Albert Hammond Jr. (the famous rhythm guitarist for the Strokes) and they were getting a lot of blog buzz. They put out The Postelles EP in 2008, which combined New York guitar lines with sugary sentiments and vocals that didn’t buy into the typical New York rocker’s apathetic cool.
Based on rating C-
For those who came of age in the mid-2000s, it’s going to be hard—maybe impossible—not to hear strains of Rooney in the fat, chipper power chords and boyish vocals of The Postelles’ second and latest record, And It Shook Me. While it’s doubtful that this was the band’s intention, it’s easy to see this as a manifestation of the cyclical nature of guitar rock. It may take infinite monkeys an infinite amount of time to write Shakespeare, but it took four guys from Brooklyn about a decade to make the same kind of power-ballads as Rooney.
Opinion: Fairly Good
It’s easy to imagine the Postelles as freshly scrubbed, sweater clad and crisply coiffed like the album cover for some early-’60s vocal pop group. The New York quartet are definite pop aficionados, lifting liberally from the past half-century, ranging from punchy ’80s rock to doo-wop, power pop and adult alternative. It’s undeniably winsome almost to the point of oppression—similar to the way that first overly effervescent swig of Coke stings the back of your throat.