We Found a Lovebird
Let’s Start the War (Independent)

The title of this six-song EP might remind Repo Man fans of a certain Fear song (“Let’s Have a War”), but We Found a Lovebird’s sound doesn’t owe much, if anything, to ’80s L.A. hardcore. In fact, the quartet counts the Beach Boys and Big Star as influences, which is borne out in its melody-centred indie pop. There may not be any Brian Wilson–worthy vocal harmonies on display here, but We Found a Lovebird’s singer and multi-instrumentalist, Larry Lechner, still comes across as an analogue soul in a digital world. He just wasn’t made for these times.

It’s a safe bet that Lechner has a Modern Lovers LP in his collection as well, judging by “Give Up the Ghost”, an organ-enriched number with a driving feel à la “Roadrunner”. And while we’re trotting out the ’70s comparisons, let’s throw in Television, a likely inspiration for the wry vocal delivery and searing guitar tones of “Shiver” and “Don’t Blame the Times”. Then again, the cinematic postrocker “Northwest on Southwest Avenue” sounds like none of the above, which suggests that We Found a Lovebird is more than the sum of its indisputably great influences.