Wooden Teeth

Album Review

Florida quartet Mouse Fire aren't doing anything particularly new on their debut album Wooden Teeth, but they combine familiar elements in unexpected enough fashion to make the album an appealing listen regardless. Working off the basic template of the emo end of contemporary indie rock, Mouse Fire add smartly catchy pop hooks to songs like the vaguely psychedelic "Comes Around Goes Around." They also engage in a fondness for noisy experimental interludes like the brief, distortion-heavy freak-out "Mexican Weather," but even that 90-second song has a surprisingly memorable chorus underneath all the feedback. At the album's most blandly indie-by-numbers, such as "To Celebrate a Suicide" and the repetitive "Started a Fire," Mouse Fire sound more than a little like Minus the Bear, but singer Joey Bruce's better than average voice (he generally stays well clear of the usual emo whine), the regular addition of piano to the choppy guitar lines and bass-driven rhythms, and the generally high quality of the songwriting makes up for the album's occasional flaws. This is a solid, encouraging debut.