01. Dream Your Life Away 4:11
02. Better by Design 4:48
03. Lucy 2:15
04. Afraid Anymore 3:32
05. Luckier Man 3:31
06. Hard Act to Follow 4:31
07. Start Me Over 3:54
08. Helplessly 4:12
09. Better than You 4:05
10. Ordinary Guy 2:32
11. Up My Sleeve 3:19
Right to the head of the class for Best Of 2009 - so that be a cue that you
should spend a little time and listen to the samples below. Lefler comes from
left field -- he`s been a hired gun for Dashboard Confessional as their lead
guitarist for years but the quality of the work here on "Better By Design"
excels way over of what we hear from his paycheck w/ DC. Earmarkings recall
Jellyfish, Josh Fix, Fountains Of Wayne and Bryan Scary - and more.
Absolute Power Pop blog nails it, as usual: "Lefler touches all the power pop
buttons here. "Dream Your Life Away" opens the disc with a Jellyfish-inspired
track that could have come off Spilt Milk, with its British invasion melody,
staccato guitar riffs and snare drums, all delivered with a certain joie de
vivre that a power pop fan can almost innately pick up. There`s no dropoff next
with the title track, with its insistent piano beat and McCartney-esque melody,
and the sweet and jangly "Lucy" is 2:16 of pure ear candy. An opening trio like
that is hard to follow, but Lefler hangs in there with several more gems. The
midtempo rocker "Afraid Anymore" recalls both Fountains of Wayne and Cliff
Hillis, "Hard Act to Follow" (hey, didn`t I just use that phrase?) is another
`Fish-styled number with a quality guitar solo, and "Helplessly" is a pretty
ballad that does a fine job of letting the listening catch his or her breath.
The latter portion of the disc is rounded out with the file Sloan-styled "Better
Than You", the bright rocker "Ordinary Guy", complete with "oh-oh-oh"s and a
Matthew Sweet/Gin Blossoms sound, and the dreamy Lennonesque closer "Up My
Sleeve". A stunning debut from Mr. Lefler, and one I can see in a lot of power
poppers` top 10 lists come year`s end.".
"Unlike Dashboard frontman Chris Carrabba, Lefler aims for power pop instead of
acoustic ballads. With infectious tracks influenced by the likes of the The
Beatles, The Beach Boys or The Zombies it makes for a perfect summer sound. It
is a very engaging and charming record through out. The sound is far from
`solo`, with a multi-instrumental mix mostly done by Lefler himself. "
Try
