The Mesmers' (http://www.mesmers.com) retro-futuristic album cover - robot shadow enveloped in Pop Art colours of black, green, and orange - does a better job of describing the group's music than the best advert copy.
The Mesmers exist in a Twilight Zone of past and future, haunted by the bar-band melodicism of the Beatles and the theatrical melodrama of the Doors on one side and the progressive, quirky sensibilities of indie rock on the other.
This is a band that could've been much less accessible than they are if their songs weren't focused on toe-tapping hooks. For all of their arty stylings and pretensions, the Mesmers are still a pop group. The '60s British Invasion harmonies on "Come and See" and the upbeat rock and roll of "One With the Sun" and "What Do I Get But Nothing" sound like Top-40 hits from an alternate universe. On "What Do I Get But Nothing," the Mesmers oddly echo the bubblegum punk of the Ramones at less than half the volume.
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When the Mesmers break away from the AM radio fixations, they're even more intriguing. The moody, dimly-lit "Empty Nights" has a striking, rain-drenched atmosphere, and "Sandy Strange" is '50s country high on alcohol-drenched tumbleweed.
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