“Part ballad, part bitch-slap, TVHA’s new single is an explosive, danceable temper-tantrum draped in a toga of epiphany. An anthem for recovering masochists.”
If that sounds intriguing and appealing to you, then you may very well be the intended target market for this band. Heaven knows, there is certainly a market out there for this kind of music; this is the kind of CanCon that one might find on modern rock radio and Much Music.
But unfortunately, my impressions upon reading the press release were very similar to my impressions upon listening to the music: overwrought, needlessly dramatic, kind of dumb.
So you can’t blame TV Heart Attack for misrepresenting themselves. But if your reactions to reading the above press clipping are similar to mine, then you may want to avoid this disc.
Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to write off a band because of their media material (which in TVHA’s case outlines their 12-point “Sales/Marketing Highlights”) but, while “Lost in the Sway” isn’t abjectly terrible, there isn’t really any reason to recommend it either. Its six songs are slickly produced, but pretty much forgettable. The music itself is synth-tinged, goth-lite rock, like a poor man’s the Killers (who TVHA have actually shared the stage with).
Still, if the Vancouver quintet’s songs do end up finding a home on the radio and TV, I wouldn’t begrudge the local boys their success. At least they’re markedly better than Nickelback.
