The Loved Ones – Distractions

Distractions – The Loved Ones

By Aidan Roberts

The Loved Ones have lived up to their name of late (a clever management choice’), gathering a rather large slavering audience of sweaty-backed teens and head-banging pop kids. With this follow up to their well, er, loved LP Build and Burn, these guys offer up a 50/50 of originals and covers to tide over the fans. The first half, the band’s originals, presents a very familiar trio of power-pop songs. The title track is token bittersweet, jock-school punk rock, and Last Call somehow lands somewhere in the middle of Richard Marx and Blink 182. The covers are actually quite interesting, particularly an appropriately stark and clanging rendition of Springsteen’s classic road-kill ballad Johnny 99. Here they have unself-consciously paid homage to some of their heroes of songwriting (Bragg and Strummer also included), in a joyous effort to gain a little bit of extra cred. It works in a way; but unfortunately their original material like so many other bands of the genre, slips into predictability and a kind of over-earnestness that will certainly earn them eager teenage fans, but not enduring listeners.

**1/2