Mosely-With Pencils In Hand

House Of Fish
2013

I'm taking a wild stab in the dark here, but I'm guessing it's really freaking cold right now in Ottawa, Ontario. That's where this 4-piece band calls  home. With their warm & sunny take on rock and roll though this young band must be making the area all the more enjoyable, cold weather or not! For a band that was only formed back in February of 2012 they sure do seem to as if they have managed to do a lot in a relatively short span of time. The band released the 10-track album "Frailty" in April of 2012 followed by the "Don't You Dare" single this past December. "With Pencil's In Hand" is the latest release from Canada's Mosely and it finds this 4-piece band offering up 6-tracks of energetic garage rock. Now, to show that I do indeed have kids (which should be obvious as I dearly love them and try to mention them as often as possible!) the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the name Mosely was Jennifer "Moze" Mosely from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (played by the lovely Lindsey Shaw). Weird I know, but this band almost has the same sort of quirky fun to them as the show. They are not as goofy as TV show, but one of the other things they have in common is this sense of enduring charm you get from both. Now, just like the TV character "Mosely" this young band is features an equally lovely lady in the form of front-woman Dani Poisson. As she leads the band in an effortless fashion over these 6 tracks words such as "energetic", "pop-punk", "alternative rock", "sunny", "fun" and "garage pop rock and roll" come to mind. Consider those the "tags" then for this band that cites Coldplay, Thrice, Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon, Muse and Black Sabbath as influences. Nah, I'm just kidding about that Black Sabbath part (seeing if you all are awake on a sleepy Saturday) as these four seem more drawn to a band like Blondie then Black Sabbath! While I've thrown out the terms "pop-punk" (and even "pop-rock") this band does have more of a rock edge then those two descriptions would imply. Yes, the band can craft some pop-tinged material, but it's not like any of the songs on "With Pencils In Hand" are god awful Avril Lavigne "Sk8er Boi" pop or anything! Since they are lead by a woman with a little spunk in her voice I'm sure sooner or later (if it hasn't already happened that is) that they will get compared to Paramore. You do have to wonder how many female-fronted hard pop/rock and roll bands get compared automatically to Paramore? Probably too many to count. For some unknown reason though another band comes to mind who are, well, a little more less known. After listening to this EP I can honestly say that this is what I'd imagine a heavier Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer would sound like! (just look up the name folks). Anyway, this is something different then 99.9% of what you'd normal come across here, but I like to walk on the wild side sometimes so why not have a band like Mosely here right?


http://mosely.bandcamp.com/album/with-pencils-in-hand