Chances are that the first time you listen to “Fifteen Feet and Twenty Degrees,” the Rubric Records debut from Why Make Clocks, you won’t like it. But after the second or third try the romantic depressive lyrics, lulling tempos and haunting guitars will start to catch your attention.

Chief songwriters Dan Hutchison and Brian Wiksell know not only how to delicately craft a song using the basic drums, bass and guitar, but also incorporating the likes of a Hammond organ, piano, harmonica and tympani.

The underlying feel of the group’s music contains a distinct country-western vibe. One of the best examples of this is “Revolver,” a stand-out track on the record that features a creeping lead guitar and a healthy dose of country twang in Hutchison’s vocals.

You can almost see Hutchison sitting at a table by himself with a bottle of whiskey and guitar, thinking about relationships gone wrong.

It’s probably been hell on his personal life but made for some fine lyrics.

Who can’t relate to lyrics like “Did you think that this is what I expected from you/ Going through my mail/ Sleeping with my friends,” from “I think the Answer’s No.” Or “Fuck him you said/ This is the last time/ I don’t need this shit/ I get along fine” from “Forcing My Hand.”

The album can definitely be a hard pill to swallow at times, though. It gets muddled and clunky on tracks such as “Baby Fingers” and “Spotlight.” Why Make Clocks definitely will not be a band that will carry a mass appeal with its brand of alt-country, but it doesn’t seem to be a band that is really interested in mass appeal.

Instead it seems to be more concerned with the art of the precise molding of a song, something it was able to do more often than not with “Fifteen Feet and Twenty Degrees.”

— Trevor Fisher

With Broadway credits including lead roles in “The Lion King” and “Aida,” Heather Headley’s got an impressive resume. Now Headley’s trying to make a name for herself as an R&B diva as well.

However, Headley’s debut record, “This Is Who I Am,” unfortunately falls victim to glossy production — venerable producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis share credits on this album, and Headley herself seems to get lost in the mix.

It’s obvious Headley’s got serious vocal talent, but her powerful pipes can’t break through the glitzy strings, breezy harmonies and trite lyrics found on many of the album’s tracks.

A bright spot is found on the album’s first single, “He Is.” The song’s soulful lyrics, extolling the virtues and strength of black men, are driven home by Headley’s powerful delivery. The lines “The mind injector/ The heart protector/ The soul defender of anything I fear,” show this song is definitely worth a second (or third or fourth) listen.

Headley wrote three of the 12 songs on “This Is Who I Am,” and one of those tracks, “Sista Girl,” is an example of good intentions gone bad.

Headley deserves credit for writing a cautionary tale about the consequences of teen pregnancy, but the message seems a bit forced, starting with the chorus: “Hold on if you can, cross your legs, forget that man/ Someday you’ll look back and understand.”

The album ends with the Celine Dion-esque “If It Wasn’t For Your Love.” Complete with strings and oboe, the song almost begs to be played at weddings across the nation and is a fitting end to a somewhat misleading CD.

Don’t let the first single fool you into thinking Headley is another neo-soul singer/songwriter — she’s not.

If Headley continues to hone her songwriting craft, she could make a serious impact on the R&B scene — I anticipate that day.

— Megan Hinds

Drive-Thru Records is attempting to take over the world. Bands like Something Corporate, Finch and Movielife at least have something unique to bring to the pop-punk table.

However, Allister is a typical young pop-punk band that hasn’t quite figured out its niche in a frequently vanilla genre. While “Last Stop Suburbia” — Allister’s latest offering — is a step up from “Dead Ends and Girlfriends,” it still doesn’t sufficiently define Allister’s abilities as a band.

Clich‚d lyrics about girlfriends and life on the road plague any intellectual message the band was trying to convey.

“The One That Got Away” is a song that exercises overused and altogether immature lyrics to reminisce about (surprise!) a failed relationship.

It seems to be a staple that bands write at least one song about life on the road. An overused topic should, by this point, be written in an original way. However, Allister fails to be original in its delivery once again in “Westbound.”

“Driving through nights on empty roads/ Hoping the clubs promote our shows/ Wasting days in endless naps/ Finding new ways to fill the gaps.” Too much rhyming often lends itself to a cheesy result that doesn’t effectively give the listener a taste of what life is really like on the road.

Not all is lost on this album, however. There are a few gems that redeem, as much as possible, this overproduced pop-punk album.

“Somewhere Down on Fullerton” and “Stuck” are songs that, although not particularly complex, are at least catchy enough to deserve a listen all the way through. The obvious isn’t spewed in the listener’s ears, and they can interpret a deeper meaning.

The album is made up of 16 songs when it could have been 10. Eliminating the anomalies on the album, which would yield a more coherent, more focused product, could have given “Last Stop Suburbia” some value.

— Erin Randolph