Five Blank Pages — Last Blush

On the surface, this seems like the perfect recipe for pretty, gooey, Salteens-like pop — bright guitars; horns and strings; boys and girls singing "ba da ba ba" harmonies — but there's something sinister just beneath the surface of Five Blank Pages' debut full-length. To say that these songs have a rough edge might be a bit of an understatement. "Tonight I'll sleep naive/Just like a baby whose mother feeds him liquor so she sleeps soundly," Noyan Hilmi sings on "She Sleeps Soundly." Hilmi has said the disc is an attempt to capture "that instant when the butterflies disappear," and the four-piece have more than achieved that goal. This album can be downright depressing, but, as far as disheartening records rate, Last Blush is pretty damn good. If you liked Dog Day's Night Group, you should enjoy this one as well. Just don't listen to it when you're in a good mood.

Get it from