The Willowz

• The Willowz [Dionysus, 2004] A-
• Talk in Circles [Sympathy for the Record Industry, 2005] A-
• Everyone [Dim Mak, 2009] **

Consumer Guide Reviews:

The Willowz [Dionysus, 2004]
Old enough to vote, too young to barhop, they spend most of these eight brief songs trying desperately to catch up with themselves, and their occasional collapse into the breathy/slow/acoustic is doubly touching by contrast. It's easier to get a grip on your future when you have time to live in it for a while. Punker than the Ponys, and even more childish, but just as vulnerable. Maybe youth is feeling fragile these days. Maybe it's afraid its headlong rush is not long for this world. A-

Talk in Circles [Sympathy for the Record Industry, 2005]
The new generation of cute punkoid bands are committed minimalists, like when these kids from Anaheim put nine songs on their 22-minute debut whatzit. But they're also ambitious, a winning quality in a cute punkoid band. You can tell because these 20 songs last over an hour. Yet they still sound rushed and excited--if a lyric is unfinished it's obviously because they couldn't wait to get to the next one, and when they slow down they're just catching their breath. In its cute punkoid way, a major statement. A-

Everyone [Dim Mak, 2009]
Garage punk as art movement, with "Break your back on this world/Have some fun on your way" its manifesto ("Break Your Back," "I Know"). **