Infinite Shuffle

I’ve been putting off doing a review of Jaill, mostly because I’ve had a hard time thinking of an apt description for their sound. That’s because they are influenced by multiple different scenes, spanning several decades of the rock spectrum.

Most prominently, Jaill does a good job of channeling the ’60s pop sound — specifically the British Invasion vibe, even though they’re four guys from Milwaukee. Occasionally, they’re also reminiscent of the garage/surf rock of that era.

But they do all this through a modern frame of reference and include some of the lo-fi ethos of the early ’90s. The description they give in their own bio is pretty spot-on.

Up-tempo, guitar-driven twang-twee with punk attitude … disarmingly cheerful at surface level. But, dive into the lyrics and things get weird. Jaill hooks the ears with insistent, upbeat pop and twanged-up garage elements, which grow deliciously darker with further investigation.

I occasionally thought lead singer Vinnie Kircher’s vocals reminded me of the leader of the Cold War Kids, especially on the song “The Stroller”.

True to their early forebears, few of the songs on their second album, That’s How We Burn, crack the 3-minute barrier, which makes the 11-track disc go by quickly. It’s like a shot of pop-rock to get you through the day.

I’ve already listened to it about 10 times since first discovering the album at a couple of record stores while vacationing in Portland and Seattle.

The fact that the band is signed to Sub Pop Records should be reason enough to pick up the album.

Head over to their MySpace page to check out a few of their songs, including a trio from their debut album, There’s No Sky (Oh My My).