Rogue Wave
Permalight (Brushfire)Categorizing Rogue Wave as “indie” now qualifies as a misclassification. Being on Sub Pop, as the Bay Area act was for its first two LPs, still gives you that kind of moniker, and when the band jumped to Jack Johnson’s Brushfire label, it wasn’t overly concerned about editing for space on 2007’s Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, making the nest a little deeper in that pigeonhole. For its latest, Permalight, the band is content to cram a few hooks into its pop concoctions and get on with things. At its best moments (“Solitary Gun”), the disc comes off like the album Nada Surf should have made to follow up 2002’s underappreciated Let Go. At its worst (“I’ll Never Leave You”), it sounds like an insufferable Ben Gibbard tribute. Most of the dozen tracks fall comfortably near the middle ground between those two ends. The result is something palatably hip without being overly threatening. (Thu., 10pm, Emo’s Main Room; Sat., 2pm, Day Stage.)
This article appears in March 19 • 2010.