We Are Scientists

“With Love and Squalor” (Virgin)

Compare to: The Bravery, VHS vs. Beta, The Killers

REVIEW: 1.5 / 5

In short: While fans of synth rock acts such as the Bravery will eat this up – hell, even the cover has kitties on it – We Are Scientists is lacking chemistry, with 12 tracks of everything you’ve ever heard before.

She deafened me . with science! On We Are Scientists’ debut, a group of three young men who appear to have been the last to get picked in kickball decided to make a music CD.

There seems to be a concerted effort to sound like everyone else, and I can happily report We Are Scientists achieved this goal, one of the few that they have on the album.

Clever lyricism could have been the one bright spot on an otherwise bland album, but with lines such as, “My body is your body / I won’t tell anybody / If you want to use my body / go for it, yeah,” you’d be scratching your head to figure out how Scientists passed a high school biology class.

Those who enjoy the Killers and the Bravery will no doubt be drawn to We Are Scientists’ sound and later be disappointed when it doesn’t deliver anything other than a painful headache.

Tracks on the album, including main offender Cash Cow, are more than likely unreleased B-sides on a Bravery album – and they were unreleased for a reason.

For being a bunch of copycats, a CD jacket full of kittens is nothing but suspect.

– Rob Lombardi