Sunday’s Best: Poised to Break

From the somewhat unnerving homage to The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” on “The Hardest Part” to the vocals which sound like a watered-down mix of Thom Yorke from Radiohead and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, everything about Sunday’s Best evokes other, more interesting bands. Everything on Poised to Break is completely derivative. There are no original ideas anywhere.

It is almost difficult to say that Sunday’s Best or Poised to Break is bad, because this music is designed to be utterly non-offensive. They place their poignant pauses just where you’d expect them to fall, and the vocals are just earnest enough to convey emotions without committing to them. Guitar chord progressions are generic and played with neither inadequate nor extraordinary skill. Even the hidden jam session at the end is in just the right place and lasts just long enough. All of this would almost be admirable if it actually seemed like thought was put into it. Instead, Sunday’s Best just seems to be on autopilot, playing by the textbook rules for a band of four white boys.

While it would’ve been nice if the lyrics somehow saved Sunday’s Best, revealing some profound and intelligent awareness of the human condition, this is, unsurprisingly, is not the case. They’re either whiny or forgettable, but usually both. “Some things are lost and some things, I guess, get found,” they sing obviously on “When Is Pearl Harbor Day.” Even when they touch on subjects like domestic abuse, like in “Indian Summer” (“How did you get that bruise on your shoulder? / You are so Sisyphus / Just pushing on your boulder”), they do little more than just touch on the subject. There’s no insight or understanding about any of the situations they sing about.

Poised to Break is fortunately easy to disregard. It’s almost harder to actually pay attention to it. While this would otherwise be a criticism of a band, it’s probably the most redeeming quality of Sunday’s Best. You can effortlessly ignore them. Find a CD by one of the bands that Sunday’s Best is unmistakably descended from and listen to that instead.