"Elevator," the third album created by Canadian dance-rock quartet Hot Hot Heat, continues to put a happy face on teenage angst.
The recent success of bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, and Temper Temper has brought popular music's obsession with 80s culture to a boiling point. With "Elevator," Hot Hot Heat solidifies their place at the forefront of this movement.
Their 2002 sophomore effort "Make Up the Breakdown" combined a pop-punk format of keyboards and dance-oriented rhythms with mid-80s New Wave a la INXS and A Flock of Seagulls.
"Elevator" stresses the catchy pop elements of the band's sound, downplaying the punk influences that were more present on their previous albums. However, having said that, this album does not deviate much either from their own sound or that of their peers.
Clocking in at less than forty minutes, "Elevator" is a fast-paced, fourteen-song joyride, though true to the album's title, the thirteenth track is skipped. Musically, it is quick, harmonious and almost disgustingly infectious.
The mixture of relatively simple guitar chords, drumming, keyboards and chorus-heavy song structures make most of the album's songs instantly memorable.
Lead vocalist Steve Bays's high-pitched voice complements "Elevator's" musical style, but it's a bit whiney. It becomes tiresome by the end of the album.
Lyrically, Bays exhibits a lot of talent, constantly mixing metaphors and using crafty double-entendres.
"I was picked up and then dropped off in a culture/ Counter-clockwise turned around/ Rolled a pair of dice in Paris that got me to paradise all/ Safe and sound," Bays sings on one of the album's stand-out tracks, "Island of the Honest Man."
Other impressive tracks include, "You Owe Me an IOU," "Elevator," and "Running Out of Time." The band also makes a strong impression both musically and lyrically on "Middle of Nowhere," one of the album's most clever and emotional love songs.
"Elevator" is good. However, as their name suggests, Hot Hot Heat's biggest problem is redundancy.
