British four-piece Switches make their US full-length debut with Lay Down the Law, drawing inspiration from the best of rock, indie, and Britpop. Switches never pretend to be reinventing the wheel; they wear their influences unabashedly on their sleeves.

Opening track "Drama Queen" layers on vocal harmonies and asks the musical question "have you got what it takes to be queen?" With carefully placed breakdown and buildup, lush falsetto backing vocals, and peppered with woo's! and handclaps, it's an homage to the classic sound of Queen themselves, with an indie pop twist. Expect more of the same in the rest of the album, with every track making you think "this sounds just like…." Switches manage to put their stamp - albeit lightly - on sounds both classic and modern, but they never quite find a sound all their own. "Snakes and Ladders" soars like Interpol, "Lay Down the Law" mimics Franz Ferdinand, "Message from Yuz" harkens back to classic, swaggering T. Rex.

Lay Down the Law delivers on every track with the band as confident as they are catchy. Standout "Every Second Counts" builds to a fever pitch, and "Stepkids in Love" delivers with deliciously twisted lyrics and another chorus that will stick in your head for days.

Brittany Abbott
May 26, 2008