Rogue Wave (not to be confused with either 50 Foot Wave or the Rogue River) are a foursome of fuzzy young men from Oakland, CA, led by one Zach Rogue. There was a debut album released last year. I’ve never heard it, but it garnered a lot of press, most of which could be boiled down to Shins comparisons. *sigh* Music writers can be a lazy lot, can’t they?

Well, that’s last year, which is far behind us now. It’s 2005, almost 2006. Enough shilly-shallying, eh? Here we go.

Overall, it’s not bad. Shins-like? Not really, unless by that you mean a shared bent pop sensibility. That, I’d buy. Rogue’s got a nice voice, a very slight bit rougher around the edges than James Mercer's. The instrumentation is a little fuller, less obviously dependant on keyboards, skewing more toward various textures of guitar. They throw in all sorts of nifty shit, though: Hammond B3 organ, xylophones, trumpet, chimes, autoharp, transistor radio (!), bowed saw, cello, vibes, lap steel, accordion… there’s no credit for playing kitchen sink, but I’m sure that’s only because they didn’t have one handy in the studio. Rogue plays most (but not all) of the guitar parts; Gram Lebron plays guitar, among other things; Pat Spurgeon drums; Evan Farrell plays the bass. But really, everybody’s playing multiple instruments on just about every track. And hurrah for that.

I go back and forth on whether or not to recommend Descended Like Vultures. See, one of the problems of reviewing music is the obligation to listen to the disc in question repeatedly. This can allow a set that didn't quite catch the ear the first time out to grow on the reviewer. That’s the upside; sadly, the reverse is also possible. I liked this album right out of the box, but the more I played it, the less I enjoyed it. It’s not that I hate it, I’m just sorta tired of it. To be fair, this may be due to my state of mind these days. I’m just not in a pop place, mentally speaking, and that may have led to premature fatigue. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

The track that’s stood up the best is “Bird on a Wire”, a sort of woozy waltz. And, y’know, even with the overplay fatigue, the only song I really can’t stand is ‘Salesman at the Day of the Parade”. That’s due to the annoying vocal tic Rogue uses throughout – “I’m so sorry for what I’ve duh – un/ I went into it like a mah –an” really works the nerves pretty quickly, and I’ve felt that way from the first time I played the song. Otherwise it’s a nice acoustic number.

So. Where does that leave us? It’s essentially a fluffy little bunny of an album. It fits nicely into Sub Pop’s line of fractured pop rock, so that’s worked for you in the past, this one will probably do it, too. If not, well, maybe fluffy bunnies aren’t your thing.

(Rogue Wave’s Descended Like Vultures is available through Sub Pop Records.)