In Brief

Competence doesn’t count for everything. This Australian quintet’s repertoire stretches from guitar-heavy rock to lush postmodern pop along the lines of Crowded House or Michael Penn. It’s all well-crafted stuff, but this album (in stores Tuesday) never fully ignites emotionally, although “Up & Down & Back Again” comes close with an urgent guitar attack matched by soaring vocal harmonies. Pleasant but distant.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.