Just because a CD will hold 80 minutes of music doesn’t mean it should.

Ten songs totaling just over 25 minutes in length, Long Gone and Nearly There, the debut album from Washington D.C.-based quartet Julie Ocean makes a case for fast over fatuous, poppy over prog, and concise over complicated. The album is being released by Transit of Venus, distributed in the U.S. by RedEye.

Julie Ocean songs generally follow three simple steps: they start, they make their point, and they stop – but, somewhere along the way, they charm, too. Long Gone and Nearly There is underpinned by a taut, frenetic energy reminiscent of Dag Nasty and the Descendents, is infused with the casual chaos of primetime Guided By Voices and Pavement, and contains undeniable elements of sweet 60s pop of an early Beatles stripe, coupled with the searing melodicism of late 70s heroes The Jam and The Undertones (from whom the band takes its name).

Number 1 Song

Rock

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