Moxie Bravo

VINYL FORMAT. The High Strung's road-band lifestyle may be Nuggets-era retro, but Moxie Bravo, the sophomore effort by the Detroit-via-Brooklyn three-piece, is thoroughly forward-looking. Moxie Bravo's guitar hooks, well-crafted three-part harmonies and sprawling song structures can recall Village Green-era Kinks, Brian Wilson, or the Zombies, but the High Strung's sensibility links them more closely to contemporaries like past tourmates the Rosebuds and Brian Jonestown Massacre. Moxie Bravo's tightly melodic songcraft is part Motown, part Grandaddy minus the robots, with psychedelic guitar interludes recalling Built To Spill's best and power-pop choruses that could make Teenage Fanclub jealous.