Album should be band's breakthrough

Rising out of last year's Lower East Side explosion, Longwave breaks apart from the evermore stereotypical garage rock halo of NYC. Even though these guys have been around and tour with bands riding the rock wave, they have succeeded in developing a name for themselves. Longwave has been thrown in with, and has toured with, The Strokes, Mooney Suzuki, White Light Motorcade, and The Ravonettes, but Longwave emerges with a different sound than its straight-up rock counterparts. The approach is more subtle, smoother -- think Radiohead's The Bends and Interpol's Turn On The Bright Lights. Longwave's The Strangest Things rolls though twelve tracks of mellow vocals and ambient guitars melting together at varying tempos. "Wake Me When Its Over" and the drawn out "Meet Me At The Bottom" contrast the quicker "Everywhere You Turn" and playful, radio friendly "Pool Song." The group also brings in some orchestra strings on "Can't Feel a Thing." After several indie EPs, this album should bring Longwave to the forefront, and rightfully so.