Webb Brothers
MAROON
(ATLANTIC)

Chicagoans Justin and Christiaan Webb write the type of low-slung cry-in-your-beer laments we’ve grown to expect from hipster twentysomething guys who cure heartbreak with bar hopping. But the Webbs — both sons of famed ’60s pop songwriter Jimmy Webb — don’t just tell their tales with an acoustic guitar or a scrappy garage combo for support, they pull out all the bells and whistles. Maroon, their second full-length, is an hour of top-notch orchestral pop, frosting the brothers’ exotic melodies and power-pop guitar playing with strings, horns, and an impressive array of vintage keyboards. " Summer People, " a hit single in England, where the Webbs enjoy the adoration of the press and the pop-attuned public, billows as if done by an urbane, chain-smoking Granddaddy; the gorgeous " Low Grade Fever " acknowledges the trippy Pink Floyd records Mr. Webb surely discouraged. Father doesn’t always know best.

Issue Date: June 21 - 28, 2001