Is a Real Boy

The ambitious debut release from one-man-band SAY ANYTHING (aka Max Bemis). Full of bristling intensity and gooey pop grandeur, the album follows in a lineage of the stabbing but melodic rock of bands like Hüsker Dü, Jawbreaker, and at times Elvis Costello. Thirteen tracks produced by Tim O'Heir (Sebadoh, All-American Rejects, Superdrag) with arrangements by Stephen Trask (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Conceived as a rock opera, the resulting record follows the switchbacks and hairpin turns of personal narrative, like Bright Eyes' "Fevers and Mirrors" but with the unwavering enthusiasm and crunchy momentum of Phantom Planet. Smart, inspired rock and roll beyond the pale of simplistic genre labels. This is your late summer soundtrack -- the perfect companion to the bittersweet feeling of good times in the waning sunshine.