Tree City

The debut full-length by Robbers on High Street tries a bit too hard to put this New York quartet on the same footing as the Strokes, Ambulance LTD, or Interpol: '80s-inspired post-post-punk given an unapologetically commercial sheen. That production gloss might actually be to the band's detriment; these songs are uniformly head and shoulders above those on their 2004 EP, Fine Lines, but that self-produced record had some appealingly rough edges that suited the band's slightly nervous, jumpy sound. On Tree City, drummer Tomer Danan and bassist Jeremy Phillips are smoothed out, more Echo & the Bunnymen than Joy Division, a change that does the songs no favors. Although frontman Ben Trokan's songwriting has taken an enormous step forward -- the soaring "Amanda Green" has a chorus worthy of Paul Weller between verses that mine the same vein of post-punk dance as Franz Ferdinand -- the curiously lifeless production means that several listens are necessary before the songs' charms are fully revealed.