Opossum: Electric Hawaii

     

      Electric Hawaii is a good debut for the New Zealand indie pop outfit, Opossum.  The band shows that they are mature beyond their albums with their beachy, post rock sound.  The band dabbles in a few different genres throughout the album, as they teeter the line lo-fi garage rock, and synthy sleekness.  Electric Hawaii's  action of subtly blending genres shows a musicality that is not too often found in debuts.  The band clearly has a distinct sense of sound and sensibility.  They are clearly not planning on being a one trick pony, and the difficult classification implies a bright future for the band.
     Unfortunately, Opossum's same philosophy that has made Electric Hawaii intriguing is also that which keeps it being from a benchmark debut.  While the cross pollination of genres is innovative, it is easier said than done.  Even though the band does pretty well sticking to the post punk sound, there is still a noticeable deviation between that sound and the synth pop that sometimes makes an appearance.  The two are by no means mutually exclusive,  but Electric Hawaii seems to go partway in each, without dedicating itself to a sound.  Sometimes, this works out.  In this case, however, it seems to lack a thematic element that could have been there with a more cohesive sound.  The idea of a diverse album it great, but the Electric Hawaii sounds more non-committal than advanced.
      Opossum showed they have talent with Electric Hawaii.  They put together a good batch of songs, and created a good debut album.   Their shortcomings are common pitfalls of debut albums.  At this point, the career path of Opossum is a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book.  All they have to do, is choose it.