Hello Stranger: s/t (Aeronaut Records/Four Square Death Match)
release: August 8, 2006
styles: Light-hearted pop/rock
similar: Nina Gordon, Garbage, Persephone's Bees
rating: **

I don't get this band. They're on this little label, yet sound as polished as Avril Lavigne. Their press photo suggests something adventurous and the album cover suggests something either glammy, mystical or electronic or a combination of those. And they toured with roots rockers Kings of Leon? What's going on!? It's poppy rock pop, and even though it's not horrible, it's making me think of Save Ferris or the Cranberries. I'm just saying. The synthesizer saves them from being a big turkey, that and the fact that they turned down major labels and didn't sell out. If not for those things, I'd have to say that Hello Stranger is as cliche as when its name is spoken in teen television dramas. You know what I mean, like when a character randomly runs into another somewhere and they're all like "hello stranger." For real though, Hello Stranger is a clever band name. -Kenyon