The Comfies: Close to Me

The Comfies are comfortable, almost too comfortable on some of these songs, like the opening title track that sounds like the Rembrandts on steroids. There’s a bit of bite and some edge, but it’s quite telegraphed. The Washington DC band shows more promise on the softer, sweeter “That’s What She Gets”, which twists and winds before dying a nice, slow death. Another interesting, arty track is “Medicine”, which has some funk and angular accents to it. However, at only seven songs and running under a half-hour, it’s hard to truly get a measure on what they’re about. Generally, the songs are delivered quite nicely, as is the case with “Your Sunshine”, which could be found on any summer mix tape (or CD). Meanwhile, “Understanding 23” is so sugar-coated that it takes a while to get turned onto it.