The Faults - Metro Pulse Album Review

Local CD Review II

The Faults
The Faults (Lynn Point)

We all knew that Mic Harrison was a good songwriter, but he often took a backseat to bandmate Scott Miller when the two were in the V-roys. On that band's first CD, Just Add Ice, Harrison's "Sooner or Later" stood proudly beside Miller's "Goodnight Loser" and "Pounding Heart." By the second album, though, the difference in the Scott Miller songs and the Mic Harrison songs was starkly apparent: Miller's plaintive country-ish ballads contrasted with Harrison's pop sensibility, and that difference, in hindsight, maybe, showed the tattering seams of the band.

But none of that matters much now. Miller's got his own solo project under way, and Harrison's new band, the Faults (with Mic, Robbie Trosper on guitar, and originally featuring former V-roys rhythm section Jeff Bills and Paxton Sellers; Bills has been replaced by drummer Jason Peters, and the band is looking for a replacement for Sellers, who won't be able to tour this summer), has rebounded with a solid record, scheduled for release on April 24, that highlights Harrison's knack for disarming, upbeat rock 'n' roll.

They come out swinging, opening the new album with "Dishonest Jenny," a song that Mic wrote and performed with the V-roys. There's something familiar about what follows, too—even though it's all new material, it's still the well-crafted, energetic pop that we all expect from Harrison. "Let the Angel Lie" and "Big Show" are bouncing pop-rock with rich harmonies and sing-along choruses; "Watertown" is dirty hard rock with, honestly, the slightest imprint of Judas Priest on it; "Whispering Goodbye" swings, resembling the V-roys' "Hold on to Me." The revelation of the record is Trosper, whose full-sounding leads give the songs a biting edge.

From his stint in one of Knoxville's best-regarded bands in recent years, Harrison has a built-in credibility factor. With the help of an able band, he lives up to the expectations.

—Emma "Not Liquored Up Nor Lacquered Down—yet" Poptart