Dramatization: Like everyone else I know, I’ve recently been splitting my life between Austin, Texas and the crime-ridden streets of Liberty City. By far, the most compelling part of the game to me is the music; so much work has gone into making the city “come alive” as a community, and the radio stations account for a lot of that. Whether you’re listening to talk radio, the Iggy Pop show, or LCD Soundsystem on Radio Brook, it makes running down hookers and shooting mobsters out the window at high speeds that much more enjoyable. Today, while I was testing the limits of my freshly “acquired” Turismo on the city’s most prominent straightaway/bridge, the Smashing Pumpkin’s “1979″ came blaring onto the radio. And boy does that song take me back. For my generation, those are the classics: 90’s radio-rock. And as much as I love all this “genre defining experimentalism,” I’d really like to find a new band that just plain rocks it like that song did every time I turned on “The Edge.” Oh what’s that Sybris? You’re up to the challenge? Well, by all means then, proceed.

I confess, I was being a little dramatic, Sybris are not an exact replica of 90’s alt-rock glory. As much fun as a good victory lap can be, Sybris head off in their own direction too. Take for example the album’s second track (and my personal favorite) “Oh Man” (download below), which has been floating around the internets for quite some time now. The songs captures the calm energy of 90’s rock with perfectly mellow guitars, drums, and a little shaker providing backup to vocal styling’s of Angela Mullenhour, whose lyrics are actually quite appropriate for my video game anecdote: “Had a place in the sun it was a stickup, our guns is guns and we show off” and “Where’d you get that pussy from a hooker?”

The best part, both of the song and the album really, is when Sybris take it way down, allowing Mullenhour’s vocals to really shine their gritty shine. People say Joanna Newsom’s compelling voice is like that of a child (an elf-child). Well if that’s true, Mullenhour is the sound of that child growing up, piercing her tongue, buying a guitar and rocking the hell out. Whether the guitars are wailing or just providing a little texture, her voice dominates the sound, taking what would otherwise be a throwback to 90’s-era rock to the next level.

Even more impressive though is the way that Sybris can so neatly navigate between different styles. Aside from a few exceptions, most songs are extremely dynamic. On “Burnout Babies,” the band finds an almost low-fi quality with dirty vocals and guitars, especially as the chorus builds in with Mullenhour singing “It wasn’t always such a fucking joke, I can find a place where we can burnout bright.” Just as soon as the song hits its peak, though, the music drops off to a soft and clean guitar, handclaps and the vocals, proving again that they can carry energy even at a volume close to a whisper.

I hate to digress into commentary about “Music, The Big Picture,” because I can’t really say enough about Into The Trees, but albums like this remind me what I’m really looking for in a album: a coherent, energetic collection of music that is new and “fresh,” but still listenable (as in: “This song rocks, turn it up!” and not: “These guitar rhythms are so complicated! Septuplets are crazy!”). 90’s rock did that for me, and Sybris know how to effectively revive that ethos without sounding like a complete knockoff.

Sybris - “Oh Man”

Into The Trees is out May 20th 2008 on Absolutey Kosher Records.

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