By: Django Gold
Rating: 9/11

Cruising along with hooks a’plenty and a big, driving sound, The Luxury have all the makings of the Brit superstars to whom their style is so indebted. This is a well-balanced band: from the perfect weight of the crunchy guitars, to the understated yet powerful vocal harmonies, to the unobtrusive ambient elements, things get handled. Who would have thought you could have made something happen with talented musicians and near-impeccable songwriting?

A great, great song is “Next in Line,” from their latest release, In The Wake Of What Won't Change, which has the kind of driving power chords and echo-y vocals that stick with you. Similarly, their debut record’s “Rockets and Wrecking Balls” moves convincingly from understated solo piano to a sweeping soundscape punctuated by an entirely appropriate arena-rock guitar solo. And “Seven Stories” has a busy pulse coupled with ambient layers that would make Andy Summers proud—quite hip.

Though not all of Luxury’s tunes hit the ball out of the park—the rollicking circus jaunt of “Straitjacket” and the fumbly “Malcontent,” in particular—those songs that do are just too strong to be ignored. Despite the numerous comparisons that could be drawn to Union Jack acts such as Coldplay, Radiohead, Oasis, and, uh, the Shadows, The Luxury are solid enough of a band that they establish their identity from the get-go and don’t appear to be turning back on that anytime soon. As they’ve won a fair amount of local prestige and critical attention for their work, it’s not so far-fetched to picture these guys popping up on a national level one of these days; catch ‘em live while tickets are still cheap.