The Photo Atlas

Stuck In a Honeytrap
By Mike Delano

I’m sure it’s flattering for a band to get a write-up from a music publication that compares them to another awesome band, but it’s also a curse. When SPIN says that The Photo Atlas reminds them of At The Drive-In and Bloc Party, expectations are high that the band is gonna deliver on those impressive comparisons. The Photo Atlas doesn’t quite do that at the beginning of their second album, Stuck In a Honeytrap: Opener “The Glass Crashed” offers up a decent-enough mix of staccato guitars and forceful, high register vocals, but it’s nothing that’s gonna knock your socks off. The very next song, “Dress Code,” just might, though. It’s an excellent mix of Black Kids’ dance-happy swing and No Knife’s sleek, spiky guitar riffs (speaking of music writers making irresponsible comparisons…), with an air of wistful sadness hanging over the whole four minutes. The rest of the album gives it a good go, with rock-flavored dance-centric shakers (“Shakin’ In My Skin,” “Move It Darling”), and more melancholy numbers (“Tell Me Again,” “Memory Like A Sinking Ship”), but it never quite reaches that perfect balance again.
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