has that signature flatness that marks the genre, but he effectively uses it to belt out tightly-crafted, fun lyrics about relationships, all the while including a nice sprinkling of pop culture references and a few important moments of social consciousness.

 

The album’s second song, “Tiger” refers to Mary Jane’s pet name for Peter Parker in the Spider-Man movies (and comic books, for those of us who are nerds). It isn’t as obvious as a fist-full of webbing, but “Go get ‘em Tiger/Says MJ to Pete, and then Pete’s on his way/I’m a spider/I wanna crawl up your legs, girl” doesn’t leave a ton of doubt. The entire song isn’t a paean to four-color pulp heroes, and the use of falsetto is quite reminiscent of the better parts of an album by The Darkness. Vancouver’s JPNSGIRLS, which consists of Charlie Kerr, Oliver Mann, Chris McClelland, and Graham Serl deliver more than just nerd rock to the basement crowd. The twelve tunes explore a range of issues, styles, and voices, all with one vocalist.

 

The sexually ambivalent, seemingly random use of male-gendered pronouns in “Brandon” refer to Brandon Teena, the victim of homophobic violence in which the Hilary Swank movie Boys Don’t Cry was based.”Cause Brandon really understands/Just what it means to be a man” hints at this, but it’s confirmed with the lines “And I finally saw the blue in your eyes at the morgue.”

 

“Mushrooms” may or may not have been written while under the influence, but it doesn’t matter, because the world needs more libertarian songs. The late 1980s campaign for the war on drugs made for some metal tunes (like Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” and W.A.S.P.’s “Thunderhead), but it’s refreshing to see more nuance than Just Say No being bandied about the musical ether, like with Fountains of Wayne’s “Planet of Weed.”

 

“Southern Comforting” is another good relationship tune, referring to another mind-altering substance. But this time, it’s the much more socially acceptable alcohol. While I’m fairly certain these guys aren’t famous enough yet to get paid for product references, lines like “She says Maker’s Mark is mother’s milk, isn’t it?” and “Southern Comfort is comforting, isn’t it/When your feelings aren’t feeling magnificent” certainly will improve their chances. The fact that the alcoholic evening ended with the singer waking up the next morning in the girl’s bed has its own issues, though.

 

The other socially conscious song in the collection, “Laughing Gas” references the media’s capacity for rendering consumers as sheep. They cry, “So you write another song about war/Because it’s tried and tried and troubadour-ed.” They realize that most musicians just “Write another song about her/But tell me what it’s really worth?” No matter what they do, “The media is laughing gas.”

 

This entire effort stands out like gems in a tiara. I can’t recommend this album enough to anyone who enjoys rock and alternative music even a little bit. While my only complaint is the engineering adds a bit of hollow emptiness to the record, that cannot diminish the quality of these dozen tunes. The media may be laughing gas, but these guys provide an excellent stimulant to the digital and social ether. I give it five out of five moons.

 

The fact that these guys aren’t into producing more radio-friendly rock songs only emphasizes modern radio’s vacuous and flaccid offerings. From the opening strains of “Smalls,” to the last of the twelve songs, “Oh No Echoes,” Circulation is an enjoyable collection of the catchiest alternative songs at the rock end of the spectrum to come about in a long time. Many of the acts I’ve reviewed lately manage to craft a nice collection of a few songs I enjoy. For JPNSGIRLS (pronounced “Japanese Girls”) to have created a dozen such gems is a real treat.

 

As with the majority of alternative acts, the singer of JPNSGIRLS