Love Pollution
Lady Love Luck
Independent (2007)

In A World of Emo Pop, These Guys Chose To Rock

By Nick Nocketback

Rock in Fresno has been a fickle affair from the jump, with only a very few bands really making an effort to keep that traditional rock and roll resonance alive—The Same Shape come to mind. But with the release of their new EP entitled Lady Love Luck, Love Pollution is fast on the way to settling a score with the more nontraditional. The EP offers 6 tracks, all providing that classical gritty rock sound—like an amalgam of the Stones, Stray Cats and Jet.
The actual production of the album itself is coarse and a bit gritty, but not enough to detract from the music. In fact, it gives it an antiquated, old-school feel. The only drawback I found was that I couldn’t quite make out some lyrics on a few of the tracks…although that could very well be my hearing, sadly enough.
The title track, “Lady Love Luck”, and “Jet Set Pet” produce a sound that’s a melting pot of rock and blues with a light sprinkling of punk. “Carlisle” has a more poppy quality, which is to say I believe it could be the single off the album—of course, that’s just my novice ear. My favorite track, however, is the fifth, “Construction Paper”, a more malleable side of the Polluted Boys—a respite from the more rockin’ songs. This is another jam that could very well be a single--sounds as if it could’ve been produced by Ric Ocasek, although given the budget for the album, probably not. It’s a catchy record that’s packed with nostalgic substance, one that’ll ruminate in your head for several hours.
My attempted correspondence with front man Elijah Werlyklein wasn’t immediately returned, but you can find this album, as well as where upcoming shows and just plain useful knowledge about Love Pollution at www.myspace.com/lovepollutionband