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Your Vegas

A Town and Two Cities

(UMG; US: 22 Apr 2008; UK: Available as import)

Your Vegas are not from the city that never sleeps but instead a cross of Leeds and New York. It’s that fine combination which has Your Vegas bringing out the best of British pop and time-honored, cocksure rock on the fun, energetic “It Makes My Heartbreak” which hits the first verse and continues to soar even during the bridge. Think of U2-meets-The Killers and you get the gist. Your Vegas slows things down with “In My Head”, a tight, dapper pop number that could’ve fallen out of The Delays’ coat pocket. And the same can be said for the song named after the band. The bite, verve and edge Your Vegas brings to each effort are quite refreshing, playing “Birds of Paradise” with a Springsteen-esque passion. And the album’s consistency is the biggest attraction, especially with the confident and stellar “Troubled Times” and even during the rather sullen, run-of-the-mill “The Way the War Was Won”. Lead singer Coyle Girelli has the pipes to sparkle on most of the material, especially on the powerful “Until the Lights Go Out” and the closing “Salvadore” which would give Snow Patrol a run for their money.

Rating:

Originally from Cape Breton, MacNeil is currently writing for the Toronto Sun as well as other publications, including All Music Guide, Billboard.com, NME.com, Country Standard Time, Skope Magazine, Chart Magazine, Glide, Ft. Myers Magazine and Celtic Heritage. A graduate of the University of King's College, MacNeil currently resides in Toronto. He has interviewed hundreds of acts ranging from Metallica and AC/DC to Daniel Lanois and Smokey Robinson. MacNeil (modestly referred to as King J to friends), a diehard Philadelphia Flyers fan, has seen the Rolling Stones in a club setting, thereby knowing he will rest in peace at some point down the road. Oh, and he writes for PopMatters.com.


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