Whoever said hard work doesn’t pay off is a liar. Nearly four years ago in Adelaide, Australian brothers Keith, Michael and Steven Jeffery decided they wanted to form a band. Without any songs in their pocket, they chose their favorites from legends like The Beatles and Rolling Stones to play during hometown gigs. As they got their bearings in a live setting, they were also busy building their own studio, and two years later the project was complete. This is where the brothers (plus keyboardist Darren Sell) recorded “Trojans,” their first single as Atlas Genius.

Over the next year, the quartet watched in awe as the single went viral and Atlas Genius unexpectedly became a fixture on indie and alt rock radio. The band inked a deal with WB Records and found itself on tour supporting The Silversun Pickups and more recently Imagine Dragons. And now the indie rockers can check one more accomplishment off their list: releasing a debut LP.

When It Was Now is everything you would expect from a band like this—soaring melodies, catchy choruses and dance-inducing keyboard riffs. It almost seems as though “Trojans” success is at the core, with other songs built around it. The album opens with “Electric,” one of its most infectious tracks. A spacy keyboard riff leads the way as guitars flutter in and out before crashing into a full-blown ‘80s-infused intro with Keith’s breathy “ah, ah” vocals lifting the weight created by the wall of instrumentation. The first verse shatters the instrumental barrier and takes the reins for the rest of the song, allowing complex guitar riffs to tiptoe behind.

Songs like “If So,” and “Back Seat,” also stand their ground as strong, solid pop songs, but when “Trojans” comes on, everything after it seems to pitter out. The acoustic guitar driven “Through The Glass,” has good intentions but falls short and the album’s title track, though a nice emulation of ‘80s-inspired pop, just seems flat compared to the record’s first few songs.

It’s nice to see a band try to broaden its sound within an album—you never want every song to sound the same—but when a certain sound works as well as “Trojans” did, especially so early in a career, it can become both a blessing and a curse. Atlas Genius just needs to figure out which it is for them.

 

Like us on Facebook at BestNewBands.com and KatrinaNattress and follow us on Twitter at @BestNewBandscom and @KatrinaNattress