Seventy

Most power-pop bands concentrate on replicating sound—chiming but often underpowered guitars, sweet harmonies and a nod to 1960s British Invasion song craft. On its debut, Seventy—a sharp new local quintet that includes three longtime veterans of area bands—delivers an immaculate set. The 10 songs, most of them penned by bassist Harley White, reference the better aspects of middle-period Lennon-McCartney’s stylistic characteristics (strong melodies; interesting shifts between verses, choruses and bridges; topical dissections of relationships) without relying on power-pop clichés to put the songs across. The band’s playing is solid but not quite up to the top-notch quality of the material—which isn’t a slam, because much of this CD was recorded on a home hard-disc setup. Promising.