Mad at Gravity

With only a dozen or so gigs under their belts, the members of Mad at Gravity came together in the studio to produce this remarkably tight and well-crafted debut. J. Lynn Johnston's lyrics and delivery reflect a commercial intent, but they're balanced by the group's musical sophistication. The songs are well crafted and animated by effective if predictable dynamic contrasts. Typically, they pack more than three or four chords into their tunes, which often divide into more than the regulation verse/chorus/middle eight. One of the band's more endearing qualities involves a fondness for unusual time signatures, whether planted at the heart of the material, as in the churning 12/8 of "Run for Cover" and the restless 5/4 verses of "Historypeats," or more peripheral, like the abrupt 7/8 coda on the otherwise straight-ahead rocker "Time and Time Again." It all adds up to something like a new-millennial Toto, which isn't necessarily cause for apprehension. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk, All Music Guide