Album review: The Silver Seas, Alaska (The Lights)

Pleasant and pleasingly melodic, but lacking the risky edge that makes a band truly great, The Silver Seas are like the living equivalent of a guilty pleasure, Daniel Tashian's songs echoing the sleek, unthreatening demeanour of 1970s AOR.

Aptly enough, the catchiest of Tashian's singalong tunes is “Karaoke Star”, though there are hummable hooks throughout Alaska, from the title track to the plunking banjo pop of “As the Crow Flies”. At times, on the chipper “Lights Out” and mellifluous “I'm the One”, Tashian sounds remarkably similar to Josh Rouse, another dabbler in the sweet appeal of Seventies pop: appropriate, then, that Rouse should pop up to co-write “Roxy” with him. It's all nicely wrought, but it does tend to slip down without touching the sides.

Download: Karaoke Star; Alaska; Lights Out