We Shot The Moon: Fear And Love

Three band changes in a year can be problematic, but this San Diego crew, formerly known as The Honor Roll, seems to take it in stride with delightful and grin-inducing power pop songs that border on whiny emo rock. Led by Jonathan Jones (formerly of Waking Ashland), the band comes to life on “Waters Edge” with a great chorus and better hooks. Jones also is adept at producing piano pop but with some bite as is the case with “Sway Your Head”, sounding like Ben Folds Five but with an axe to grind. After a mediocre “LTFP”, the band polishes things up with “Faces”, a safe, radio-friendly song you’d be humming along to but forgetting the next day… or next hour. Even better though is the slow-building and slow-burning “Perfect Time” that sounds like a California group paying homage to Snow Patrol. We Shot the Moon sort of shoot themselves in the foot with the over-the-top “Julie” that opens well but sags quite quickly. “Hope” shows some promise with the band tying is fortune on a chorus that has been done to death but has its moments of Warped Tour main stage Grandeur. As the album concludes, We Shot the Moon go to this mid-tempo, contemporary power ballad mold one too many times with “In the Blue” void of much oomph aside from some guitar work.