The Trolleyvox

The Trolleyvox Present The Karaoke Meltdowns

by Michael Pelusi

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Published: Oct 18, 2006

The third disc from Philly indie-pop perfectionists The Trolleyvox receives the unwieldy, yet still catchy title The Trolleyvox Present The Karaoke Meltdowns (Transit of Venus). It's an appropriate moniker for an album that is arguably their most assured and diverse yet. Songs such as "I Am Annabelle" and "Stoplight Roses" show that the group — led by guitarist/songwriter Andrew Chalfen and singer Beth Filla — is still tops at wedding winsome melodies to big-beat drum tumbles. And "Deep Blue Central" (which uses the sound of horses trotting in Old City as a rhythm bed), "Twilight Hotel" and "Pale Star Land Line" count among their most beguiling ballads. No mere pop idyllists, the band gets their political ire on with "Baby You Were Lied To" and "Just You Wait." (The latter makes its point doubly clear with a video available on the band's MySpace page.) With Chalfen and Filla getting help from collaborators familiar (Adam Lasus, Bret Tobias, Scott Rogers) and new (Brian McTear, Amy Morrissey, Owen Biddle), The Karaoke Meltdowns proves to be a most delectable kind of night out.

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