Infinite Shuffle

My girlfriend definitely has the ability to turn me on. But she’s never been too good at turning me on to new bands. (How ’bout that for a lead, huh?)

We have a lot of things in common, but musical taste is not one of them. I suppose the best way to summarize it is that she could go anywhere in this country and find a radio station to enjoy. I could not.

So, when she posted a link on my Facebook wall for the band Twin Forks, I was nervous to say the least. Particularly when I saw that the group was fronted by Chris Carrabba, the former lead singer of her favorite group of all time, Dashboard Confessional.

I figured I’d give it a quick spin, decide it wasn’t for me, then let her down gently.

That plan went by the wayside as soon as I hit the chorus of “Something We Just Know”.

The second track on the new band’s recently released self-titled debut EP, it is insanely catchy and a perfect example of why this band will earn endless comparisons to such acts as The Lumineers.

Every one of the songs on this disc would be worthy of radio airplay, particularly “Back To You”, the awesome opener, and “Cross My Mind”, which seems destined for a 2014 Volkswagen commercial.

Anyone worried about this group being a Dashboard spin-off need not worry. Those days are clearly in the past for Carrabba. The closest he comes is on “Can’t Be Broken”, which slows things down a bit, but only intermittently.

Even the weakest song here, the closing “Scraping Up the Pieces”, is worthy of at least one star on the iTunes scale.

The only bad thing about this album is that it’s so short. The five songs are over before you know it, forcing you to immediately hit the Play button again.

We are tentatively planning on seeing the band when it comes through Chicago this weekend, so I would imagine it will have a more fleshed-out setlist, likely including a cover of the Talking Heads’ “And She Was”.