The Naked and Famous/Gemini Club

The music of the Naked and Famous fit rights in with that happy-go-lucky, reverb-washed, catchy-chorus, synth-pop anthems saturating the landscape of current popular alternative music. Singles off their first full-length release Passive Me, Aggressive You definitely fall prey to that vanilla alt-pop sheen. The sing-a-long anthem “Young Blood” has that shouting over a happy beat sound we know so well. The happy, whiny love-song “Girls Like You” breaks out some harder distorted synths, finally showing some edge. On their latest album In Rolling Waves, the gloves come off a little and the band offers up harsher synths and a little more stylistic variance. While the first single “Hearts Like Ours” sounds like a B-side from their first album, “Grow Old” is a pleasantly dark crooning song that sounds like Sparkle Horse meets M83. (Gonzalez)