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Koufax
SOCIAL LIFE
(VAGRANT)

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Playing piano wasn’t the only thing that got Ben Folds noticed in the boys-with-guitars world of modern rock. But it certainly didn’t hurt. And it’s one of several points that the Midwestern indie foursome Koufax can count in their favor. On their piano-heavy sophomore disc, it’s clear that singer/guitarist Robert Suchan comes from the same young and sensitive stock as the emo boys in the Get Up Kids (no surprise that Koufax have toured with the Get Ups). Yet what distinguishes Koufax from the dozens of other strumming singers who have put their young hearts on their sleeves since the Get Up Kids took over the all-ages scene is Jared Rosenberg’s piano and the variety of other keyboards that lace Social Life.

The brooding, confessional tone of Suchan’s earnest vocals is as familiar as the lovelorn and alienated themes that wend their way through artlessly tuneful tracks like "Break It Off," "Simply Passing Time," and the ironically titled "Bright Side." It’s the piano, which tinkles and pounds in the foreground, that brings a new, sometimes Beatle-esque twist to these by now standard emo ploys. Not that this band are immune to letting their guitars do the talking when the bass and drums kick into punkier gears. But in a sea of equally ardent, passionate, confessional college-age kids with their own tuneful songs to sing, that piano gives Koufax the same edge that Ben Folds had when he was just getting started.

BY MATT ASHARE

Issue Date: October 17 - October 24, 2002
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