The Whigs, "Mission Control"

Billboard

The dizzying tom-tom runs and shining buzz-saw guitar blasts that launch "Mission Control" opener "Like a Vibration" demand you sit up and take notice, but it's the track's pop hook heart and Parker Gispert's guy-next-door voice that make the two-and-a-half-minute sprint stick. Therein lays the beauty of the Whigs: not only is the band mercifully unpretentious, its power-trio format means the tunes are refreshingly uncluttered, allowing clear-as-a-bell melodies room to breathe. Even excursions into psych-country ("Sleep Sunshine") and horn-backed roots rock ("I Got Ideas") never feel gimmicky. Taking pages out of some very strong playbooks (think Superchunk, Guided by Voices, early Wilco), the Whigs find a way to revive honest-to-goodness pop rock for a new generation.