The Thrills buck the definite-article-band

The Thrills come from Ireland, inhabit San Diego and want to be the Beach Boys, and somehow their new album, Let's Bottle Bohemia, doesn't make you cringe as much as that description might lead you to believe. Imagine a 16-year-old Bono singing notes low enough to not shatter glass with instrumentation similar to the last three tracks of Belle and Sebastian's Dear Catastrophe Waitress and you have Let's Bottle Bohemia, an album that manages to excite in some parts, calm in others and, surprisingly, not get old all the way through.\nLead singer Conor Deasy has a warbling tenor that could be said to be reminiscent of Ben Kweller, and from the wheezing organs and plucky bass on songs like "Whatever Happened to Cory Haim" to the tinny piano of "I Found My Rosebud," The Thrills manage an upbeat, poppy and positive record. "The Calm of Comfort" takes baby-grand chords, analog synths and a well-placed triangle to create something of an odd creature in the pop music world of 2004: retro-styled music without shtick or irony.\nAt its worst, it draws too much from the pop canon of The Beatles, Beach Boys and Byrds, but at its best, it will make you nod your head and even snap your fingers without making you roll your eyes. That's quite an accomplishment these days.