Cross My Heart was a celebrated indie rock band mostly because of Ryan Shelkett's half-gravel, half-gold voice, his way with words and his bandmates all-conquering use of dynamic. Their dissolution was nothing short of disappointing, but his voice lives on in the Baltimore outfit, Liars' Academy.
Liars' Academy's third release "Demons," out on Equal Vision Records, shows another step in a four-year progression towards the pop side of alternative music. While their previous releases had more than a few songs that flowed a little too well together (read: sounded the same) "Demons" doesn't have a defining theme or tone.
"Demons" has almost entirely destroyed similarities to Cross My Heart, surely to the chagrin of an emo fan or two, but can't erase all of them. Shelkett's voice is still endearing and twinged with unknown, but entirely necessary urgency. The music behind it, as usual, is the near perfect complement.
There are times when Shelkett's voice is so smooth it drifts into Bryan Vander Ark (the Verve Pipe) range and-believe it or not-that's not bad. "Demons" creates the kind of smart pop that indie kids don't have to feel bad about. Heck, scenesters could actually use this album to bond with their parents.
True, there isn't a "Tonight We'll Light Ourselves On Fire" on this album, but that's fine. What Liars' Academy is is an often easy, sometimes edgy pop rock band that will never make the radio. It has more hooks than John Mayer could dream of, but it is frankly too intelligent. It's like Tonic or the Refreshments with a little more of a dark side.
There are still songs like "Demon" that grate just enough to hold the interest of a Cursive or Benton Falls fan, but for the most part "Demons" is just a guilty pleasure without all of the guilt.
