Better Off’s Luke Granered has a side-project called Boom with which he just released an album that comes recommended if you like Brand New. That’s what they claim anyway… it’s a true enough statement I guess, but only up to a certain point. The thing I like most about Brand New is the way they trade in moments of introspection with outbursts of dismay and rage. Nearly none of the songs on “Thousand Yard Stare” get further than the introspection. Except maybe the second half of “Lung Cancer”.

I honestly can’t find anything bad about “Thousand Yard Stare”. It’s just that there’s a limit to how much slowly meandering guitar lines, twinkling keyboards and hushed vocals I can absorb before I kinda zone out and live out the album title. It doesn’t help that there aren’t any real hooks to hang the song up on. Fans of early Death Cab or Pedro The Lion might want to check it out regardless.