Never Work Ever

Never Work Ever is a pretty great record, mainly since Raymond Brake is such a charming band -- the album takes the conventions of the Chapel Hill indie and power-pop scenes and smooths them out into drifting and entirely pleasant arrangements. Some of the tracks on Never Work Ever fall pretty much in line with the Chapel Hill sound, which certainly isn't a bad thing; others use hooky guitar constructions and casually delivered sing-song melodies to put a sloppy pop spin on the scene's conventions; still others come across like a lower-fi take on darkly atmospheric British rock -- given a competent band, a charming sound, and a set of rather well-written songs, all of these approaches turn out wonderfully.