All the Stars and Boulevards  (Audio CD) 
by Augustana

Augustana's finely burnished debut again points up the contrast between contemporary American rock's persistent navel-gazing and the vibrant, back-to-the-future vibe of resurgent Britpop. The angst-ridden lyrical pleas of mainstay Dan Layus are often informed by the band's restless westward travels from its Midwestern roots on tracks like the spare "Roosevelt" and lush, mid-tempo gem of a ballad, "Boston." Yet one can almost count the modern rock influences on the album's opening wall-of-guitar conceits, "Mayfield" and "Bullets," and elsewhere, the likely residue of Train and Wallflowers producer Brendan O'Brien's aggressive studio slickery. It's to Layus' and the band's credit that the album's best moments are usually its most emotionally and musically direct, as witnessed by the moody title track, "Boston" and folk-tinged closer, "Coffee and Cigarettes." The soaring drama of "California Burning" throws all those elements firmly against the wall and damned near makes ‘em stick, ample evidence that the band has the potential to rise above the comfortably safe familiarity that sometimes seems to constrain them here. --Jerry McCulley