THE LUXURY
IN THE WAKE OF WHAT WON'T CHANGE
INDEPENDENT (2009)

The Luxury’s expansive arena pop sports more elements than the periodic table, and in lesser hands that would have translated to a few too many cooks and spoiled soup. Somehow the Boston quintet manages to channel their myriad musical ingredients into a surprisingly cohesive whole on their sophomore effort, In the Wake of What Won’t Change. Maybe it’s frontman Jason Dunn’s malleable vocals, which effortlessly glide between ’60s pop, ’70s prog, ’80s new wave and power pop, ’90s Britpop and contemporary indie rock. And maybe it’s the amazing band that surrounds the vocalist/guitarist - second guitarist/vocalist Daanen Krouth, keyboardist Steven Borek, bassist/vocalist Justin Day, drummer Steve Foster - who musically match Dunn’s vocal acrobatics step for step.

When Dunn belts it out like a control room hybrid of Liam Gallagher and Michael Stipe, the band unleashes a soundtrack that sounds like Marillion referencing the Beatles (“Nothing Comes to Mind”), and when Dunn and his harmony singers dip back into the Beach Boys magic bag for inspiration, the band ripples with a pure pop shimmer that would make Dwight Twilley green with envy (“Closer”). “Take It Back” bristles with Interpol-tributes-the-Cars intensity, “’Til Your Last Year” bubbles with crosscurrents of Marillion, Queen, OMD and Oasis, and “Next in Line” churns like an odd juxtaposition of R.E.M. and Crowded House as guided by Jeff Lynne. For all the reference points that surface in the Luxury’s presentation, the band never wears their influences like slapped on Sgt. Pepper epaulets but masterfully incorporates them into the singular and completely modern sound they create.

--Brian Baker [October 27, 2009]

http://amplifiermagazine.com/reviews/cds/the_luxury_cd.php