Artist U.S. Royalty

D.C.-based band U.S. Royalty has the good taste to swipe from the right sources: There’s a whiff of Bryan Ferry’s vibrato here, a bit of the boom-thwack negative space of Spoon there. But on this year’s full-length debut, Mirrors, the Thornley brothers and company still haven’t quite figured out how to carry their raucous onstage charm into the recording booth, leaving most of their songs just this side of memorable. Regardless, the cyclical, Fleet Foxes-copping “Equestrian” and breezy “Monte Carlo” successfully perk ears with their fusion of ominous guitars and vocal gymnastics—even if they make you instinctively reach for the bands U.S. Royalty is imitating instead of sticking around for the next track.

Updated 07/19/2011