The States, a palatable New York-based, indy/pop/punk/rock band, don’t exactly get my angsty, political blood boiling, but they do get bonus points for writing a song about former high-powered Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff on their latest album, The Path of Least Resistance.
Abramoff, who was at the center of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation including fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy, gets criticized in the song “Black Jack” by The States. “How are you gonna tell your son that the game is over, that your hand is busted,” they say in the song. Ouch!
Karl Rove doesn’t get off too easy on the album, either. In the song “The Architect,” The States criticize Rove and the Bush Administration with the lines “You can build where you don’t belong if you are cautious…Liberty is such a bitch, yeah, when you force it.”
The only problem is that their well-polished hipster cool image and over-produced tracks make the band and their new album feel too safe for me. As a result, they don’t feel very rebellious or dangerous, so their bark feels louder than their bite.
