The Whigs

The beauty and mystery of this stunning debut is how it manages to sound like nothing else without ever sounding particularly different. Bass, guitar and drums swirl or pound as the occasion warrants, and organ or trumpets appear so naturally it takes a while to realize something's been added to the mix. The singer's affecting croak tells stories that sound specific but leave plenty of room to mean whatever you'd like them to. Best of all, it's one of those records that keeps playing in your head long after you've turned off the stereo.

Like the nineteenth-century political party that inspired their name, the Whigs are an
anachronism. The baby-faced trio from Athens, Georgia, is currently riding high from heaps
of buzz earned not by a wacky YouTube video or ripping off Joy Division but by two years
of old-fashioned relentless gigging. Its debut album (cut more than a year ago while the
group members were still students at the University of Georgia) evokes the neo-r... More >