Jaill

The ever-elusive “summer song” looms large in pop music, so much so that entire careers are built around it. Milwaukee’s Jaill may not be the first group that comes to mind when thinking of sun, hot dogs, and babes by the pool, but the band’s knack for shambling surf guitars and tossed-off hooks shouldn’t be discounted come the hazy summer months. Jaill’s second release for Sub Pop, Traps, gets plenty of mileage from those elements, but it shoots them through with just enough worry and weary resignation to land them a notch above the typical empty-calorie summer jams. Opener “Waste A Lot Of Things” gets plenty of mileage from a loopy guitar riff, and the terrific “Horrible Things (Make Pretty Songs)” serves as Traps’ defining statement. All throughout, singer Vinnie Kircher remains an affable and relatable frontman, whether he’s bitching about getting older (“House With Haunting”) or the fine line between “vanilla” and “rocky road” sex lives (“Everyone’s A Bitch.”)

Updated 06/20/2012