Outerfield
Pleasant Grove Hotel
(US Highway 50)

Opening with a distorted strumming under a slippery electric lead, the laconic plead of finding out what you may or may not want to know from a lover, “Wondering If You’re Real,” gets us off and running on Outerfield’s Pleasant Grove Hotel.

Of the early tunes, the loud snare and discordant strings of the mid-tempo “Voices,” and the bright pop of keys-led super poppy “I Don’t Know Why,” work best for me.

“Getting It Right,” sees the best and quite haunting vocals here of all these from Hutson. And for sheer fun, “Vending Machine” simply rocks wonderfully. Another great tune.

“Throwing Your Life Away,” is half The Monkees, half Wilco, all fantastic with the rockin’ guitars and bleating keys. This is the best tune on Pleasant Grove Hotel for me. The slide and noise of “You Weren’t Done Yet” is another great one.

The plinking keys of the final tune, “You’re Out There,” adds a little lightness to the end of this record.

Matt Hutson and Gary Schrader’s band is dubbed “ indie/noise rockers” in the press and I’d say if there was one criticism I had about these obviously well-written and played tunes, it’s that the mix is very loud and in your face (sometimes too much for my taste). Despite the noise however, I think you’ll dig checking into the tune rooms of Pleasant Grove Hotel.