The Little Bicycles

Broken Hearts and Tired Legs (Jane Awesome)

There’s something familiar about the Little Bicycles. It’s almost as if the early Nineties were cryogenically frozen and then thawed specifically for a Texas summer. It could be singer/guitarist Nadia Kean’s voice, akin to Juliana Hatfield, though she rarely stretches it. Bassist Andrea Hendel and drummer Bryan Nelson (Gorch Fock) provide the bouncy punch that renders the music cute and lovesick. On the local trio’s debut, that makes for a fairly tame power-pop sprint. Hendel and Kean met through the Lonestar Rollergirls after all. Songs like “Inexperienced,” “Portland,” and “Tennessee” point to a certain wanderlust that comes across in the lyrics (“Nylon strings and Baptist hymns. I hope to God to be back home in Texas by the morning”), but there’s little to choose from in terms of diversity from song to song, which makes Broken Hearts and Tired Legs a quick listen that could benefit from a little more exploration.

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This article appears in August 3 • 2007.

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