Search - The Melloncollies :: Goodbye Cruel World

''I wouldn t say that I've had the best luck with women. And after listening to the album, I suppose everyone else is going to know that as well.''

Don't feel sorry for singer/songwriter Simon Erani, the force behind The Melloncollies and their debut album Goodbye Cruel World. He prefers to wear his real-life melancholy like a badge of honor on his sleeve. And as the band creates a unique blend of everything from 80's synth pop to 90's arena grunge rock, the lyrics draw creative inspiration from one of mankind s oldest and most universal sources a broken heart.

From the first seconds of the melodically-drenched opening track ''Bullet In My Sunday,'' Erani's vocals and keyboards, Peter Claro's guitars and bass, and Darros Sandler's drums combine with an energy and ferocity that make this Brooklyn-based band sound like anything but a freshman act. Just as you find yourself singing along with the last chorus (''Oblige me by taking aim / and please put a bullet in my Sunday''), the hook-laden Simple Naive Someone has you believing in love again.

While Erani's vocals bring to mind such unabashedly clean pop singers as Bleu or Robin Wilson of The Gin Blossoms, he can also muster up the rock-and-roll rawness of Paul Westerberg of The Replacements or Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum. Such is the case with the track ''You You Yeah Yeah,'' a raucous night-driving wailer in pursuit of yet another what-went-wrong (''I gave up my words to you you yeah yeah / What the hell did you do for me?''). In striking contrast, a string quartet joins a lonely nylon-stringed guitar as the rock ballad ''All I Want'' answers the angry question with crestfallen acceptance (''I'm here alone and always wondering why / Everything so wrong is never right'').

''Let It Rain'' picks up the pace again with a driving four-on-the-floor beat reminiscent of The Cranberries hit ''Dream,'' and Erani once again turns the storm of an absent father into a renewing baptism (''Please forgive me if I cursed you / Please believe me if I can t have you / Let it rain''). With the surprising edginess of Billy Corgan backed by bright crunchy guitars and Smashing Pumpkins-sized drumbeats, ''Why Oh Why'' hits on the irony of conflicted relationships (''I go and make love to you / But I'm beginning to hate you''), followed by a peaceful moment of hopeful reflection in the slow ballad ''Maybe Someday'' (''Love will find a way / I'll give my heart to you someday / maybe someday'').

This near-optimism continues to twist through the straight-ahead rocker ''Misery'' (''I'll be good to you / Come back to me / and end this life of misery'') and the buzzy ''Criminal Girl'' (''Hey baby / lay me down / and walk all over me yeah''), then turns back to the solitary sadness of lost love in the Wallflowers-like ''The Loneliest Boy'' (''I can't live another day / I'm the loneliest boy in the world without you''). ''Money Money Money'' brings the album to a raucous close in a nose dive of flaming guitars and double-time drums as Erani plays Dylan fronting Oasis as he unveils the real reason for his perpetually crashing romantic life and yours (''Could you believe the audacity / People wake up and see / She only wants your money''). For the die-hard fans, the full-album download also includes a stunning acoustic guitar and string quartet version of ''Let It Rain.''

Goodbye Cruel World makes Erani's songs resonate with past angst and buried emotions while The Melloncollies simultaneously radiate with a genuine enthusiasm and sincerity rarely encountered in today's pop/rock scene.