The Brothers Steve “Dose”

We absolutely loved The Brothers Steve’s last album “#1” which was a fantastic blast of power pop (should be) hits. Having reached such a high standard it always then raises the question of can they keep it up? Thankfully, we haven’t had to wait long to find the answer as they’ve now released the equally brilliant “Dose”.

We’re a big fan of bands that make sure they hit the ground running with the opening track and The Brothers Steve certainly do that with “Get On Up”. It’s a rip-roaring pop rocker. Catchy as hell and a song that will just put a smile on your face. Thankfully there are numerous songs on the album that deliver that feel good feeling. You have the ‘70’s glam pop of “Wizard of Love” and then tracks like “Electro-Love” and “Griffith Observatory” are some of the greatest indie/power pop songs that haven’t been released by the marvelous Redd Kross.

There is a slight shift with this album in comparison to the previous release. Whilst the ‘70s power pop feel remains, there are also tracks which take us back a further decade. Most obviously “Next Aquarius” which, whilst retaining a pop hook, has a more psychedelic feel to it. “Mrs Rosenbaum” and “Love Of Kings” bring a Beatles vibe but perhaps also via more recent bands such as Jellyfish and even Summerteeth era Wilco.

The album then comes back full circle with the straight up pop rocking “Better Get Ready”. It’s so rare to find a modern band that can nail this glam rock sound without sounding like a pastiche. It places The Brothers Steve up with some of the finest modern power pop bands over the last few years (a list that includes Cheap Trick, Enuff Z’Nuff, the aforementioned Redd Kross and even The Brothers Steves’ own previous band Tsar). Our only criticism of this album is that it should have been released in the Summer as it’s the perfect sunshine album. Mind you, we’ve no doubt that you will all still be playing these tracks next summer.