The Amber Smith From Upper Lip to Lower Hip (Version City) by Joe O'Brien The Amber Smith aren’t trying to re-invent the pop-rock wheel, they just want to cruise law-abidingly through the city in Fountains of Wayne’s survival car, looking for pretty girls to write catchy songs about. Judging by the title of their debut EP, From Upper Lip to Lower Hip, the Brooklyn foursome also want to add extra dashes of sex, attitude and groove to the bubblegum formula, and you can almost taste them- almost. While the sexiest thing about the band might be their supermodel namesake, and the most attitude they show are on their cool-smirk gig faces, their riffs n’ rhythms have more groove than your average indie pop, and their melodies are nothing to smirk at.

“Yeah Yeah Yeah” kicks things off in timeless fashion with a classic tale of unrequited love for a girl who poses in magazines, acts tough & mean and rides in limousines. It’s undeniably hooky and deceptively simple but not without pleasant surprises, like the mid-song handclaps that morph into fills, then applause, right after the guitar solo. Cheeky, sure, but clever enough that no song I’ve ever heard has done it. “1984” and “Zelda” are two more nuggets of fine pop, though they unfortunately bookend the EP’s two weaker tracks. “She Says It’s All Too Much” is perfectly acceptable but ultimately forgettable; “You Don’t Have to Stay (Go)” isn’t guilty of poor songwriting, but with punchy drums and upwardly strummed guitars that already resemble The Strokes, they really should have ditched the scratchy vocal filters. From Upper Lip to Lower Hip w was recorded over a year ago, however, and the band’s live set currently includes enough good songs to hint that The Amber Smith has an even more enjoyable LP waiting in the wings.

www.theambersmith.com