The Morning Benders
by Grant Moser
April 2008
The Morning Benders have written some incredibly catchy tunes heavily influenced by Sgt. Pepper–era Beatles and Tom Petty. They also incorporate the breezy sound of late-sixties California pop bands to great effect. The songs are smart, tight, and confident, and have incredibly catchy choruses. The Benders are an indie-pop band with success written all over them in heavy marker. They also sound pretty similar to Ambulance, who came out with a smart, tight, and incredibly delicious album a few years back. I’d take Ambulance over these guys any day, but the Morning Benders have that vibe I like—easygoing yet driving, get-stuck-in-your-head but seemingly timeless—and it’s hard for an addict like me to ignore that. However, their strength is also their biggest weakness: When they veer away from their upbeat catchy pop-tune pattern (see the last few songs), it all collapses like a deck of cards into a morass of sound without any direction.