THE SCRIPT (IMPORT)

There is no getting around it: the Script are unabashedly cheesy. But it is a very good kind of cheesy, done so skilfully there is simply no resisting it, if only as a guilty pleasure. The "together we cry" refrain that kicks off their first record is a perfect opener -- it proceeds the same way from there, strings and keyboards overshadowing the simple guitar lines and Danny O'Donoghue crooning his heart out, as serious about his love woes as any 16-year-old has ever been. But the music is, all told, prime pop/rock, with solid rhythmic grooves and passably energetic guitars, and that goes a long way toward selling the songs. It's not reckless or fuzzy enough for power pop; instead, the prime rock influence is U2, with guitar textures free of reverb but still simmering with romantic tension much the way the Edge likes 'em, though the piano is also as prominent in the mix. Between Coldplay and the Fray, the Script are not the first by far to plunder U2's legacy and reinvent it this way, but the Script are the most straightforward of the bunch, keeping the songs uncluttered and focusing on emotion, not arrangements; this pays off, with the exception of one blunder, the unbearable '80s trip "Rusty Halo." It's sappy as a maple plantation, but the rock part gives Script's debut just enough honesty to keep it firmly above the soulless, teary-eyed dross you'd hear in rom-com soundtracks -- even though it's every bit as melodramatic. ~ Alexey Eremenko

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 03/25/2016