GRETCHEN GOES TO NEBRASKA

For me, this album is a big fat pile of I Don't Get It. I find the production lukewarm, the performances uninspiring, and the overall aesthetic and atmosphere insipid and irritating. A few attempts here and there at Beatles-like vocal harmonies don't amount to much; nor does an attempt to make the guitars sound a little like sitars. And when the band do attempt to rock out, it just sounds like ugly 80s hair metal. On the balance, the album exhibits everything I find distasteful about hard rock and is perhaps one of the most deeply uninteresting musical experiences I have ever endured.