THE BIG TAKEOVER
cd reviews - Spring/Summer 2013
Jack Rabid
DRIVEN
The Big Takeover (Issue No.72)

Jack's Top 40 - #17 Driven

I thought this Greater New York trio were peaking on 2011's Rocket Surgery, but Driven is what fans seek in follow-ups: it's as good and audibly different! Already adroit at transcending shoegaze tags, it's again child's play to spot loftier influences, from Ennio Morricone and Duane Eddy to the Chameleons and Echo & the Bunnymen. But they do do the voodoo that they do so very, very dreamily, it's like they're gliding.

Here, the "driving" is a concoction of Michael Williams' 12-string acoustic-I can't think of when that instrument sounded so exquisitely shimmery-melding with Stephen Masucci's neo-psych licks. And boy, Mollie Israel has blossomed into a star. Her entrance upon the Lost Patrol scene five years ago is the clear catalyst (bless that Craiglist ad) for their present greatness. 10 albums and 14 years in, her throaty yet lovely singing (a rare combo) commands jumbo hooks over the lush textures, from the dirty "Shakin' All Over" meets "Peter Gunn" and "Courageous Cat Theme" fuzz of "See You in Hell" to the radiant finery of "Spinning" and "Burn Me Down" (to even a shuffling '30s torch piano song, "Just Go," and a Girl Group go-go "In Too Deep"). Speaking of 14-century-old lost patrols, Driven is Helen of Troy-level gorgeous!

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