Every aspect of Los Angeles seems exaggerated, so it was no surprise that when the SoCal city hit its musical stride a few years back, it was–well–pretty overdone. Native sons like Rooney and Phantom Planet played power pop with plenty of power and certainly plenty of pop; the songs were heavily hooked with the catchy choruses and the sunny sounds that redefined the definition of California sound. But soon, everything just became a bit too sunny.
So, now when a band like Army Navy breaks out of L.A. with the musical pallor of sun-deprivation, it’s hard not to take notice. The quartet plays with the same pop exuberance of their fellow L.A.-ers, but in the understated, melancholic way of Brit-rockers like Pulp and Blur. There’s a hint of garage-band-fuzz, a catchy chorus (or two), and a surprisingly big dose of ennui. But this is West Coast ennui–a product of a laidback demeanor and not the indifference and fascination with Nouvelle Vague that seems to plague the East Coast. Ben Gibbard cohort (and former Pinwheel co-frontman) Justin Kennedy sings like an early-Beatles-era John Lennon distorted by the twisted bizarreness of Robert Smith.
Even with a sound that’s removed from those Hollywood kids, Army Navy still falls into the Los Angeles bubble. Like most bands these days, the quartet has licensed their Brit-pop sensibilities for use in primetime television; in recent months, songs from their self-released EP have been played in the background of scenes from shows like NBC’s Numb3ers and the pop-culture-mecca The O.C. For their next scene, the quartet will be working with producer Mitchell Froom (who produced the song that later became the theme to The O.C.) to create their next EP that may bring Army Navy into their own full stride.
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