Virginia Coalition

This Virginia-based quartet has steadily increased its local following over the course of a five-year career, during which time the band has released three previous records. A rock band with a refreshingly pop sensibility (R.E.M. comes immediately to mind, particularly on the opening track “Pick Your Poison”), Virginia Coalition serve up mature, mid-tempo tunes with sophisticated nods to both hard rock and country. Songs veer significantly from the band's central focus at times, to the point where the rockers doing “Pick Your Poison” sound like a completely different group than the one behind the rolling “Mason Dixon.” Virginia Coalition also regularly venture too close to territory mined by Counting Crows, relieving themselves of some of their bite in favor of a pat, adult-contemporary sound. But for the most part, VACO (as their fans call them) make smart use of their dual leanings toward country rock and hard rock.

The second half of OK to Go, particularly the standout “Meteor,” really showcases the band’s penchant for giving mellow country a hard-rock kick. There's also greater use of piano - largely lost in the guitar hooks of side one - which helps give the band a fuller sound. Given a little restraint and a more clearly defined vision of what kind of music this band wants to create, there’s no reason Virginia Coalition can’t make a great album. - Cory O'Malley

Virginia Coalition, or VACO, as their fans like to call them, take another step in their gradual evolution into a national act with their fourth album, OK to Go, their first to be issued by an independent label, bluhammock music, rather than being self-released on their own DNC imprint. (Its predecessor, 2003's Rock & Roll Party, was picked up for national distribution by Koch.) It finds them firmly in the mold of the standard American indie rock band, as defined from the 1980s onward (and explicitly evoking the sound of four-man-band guitar rock dating back to the '60s). Andrew Poliakoff has one of those sturdy, slightly gruff baritones, placed high in the mix, that always characterizes such ensembles, and the band, usually led by noisy or chiming electric guitars and four-on-the-floor drumming, churns along under him. Starting out with "Pick Your Poison," the sound is melodic hard rock reminiscent of R.E.M. (or, more recently, Gin Blossoms), and the rock gets progressively softer as the disc reaches its middle, with the acoustic guitars broken out by the time of the fourth track, "Voyager 2." But after the warning "Get ready," things turn back to rock for "Abby Are You Endless." "Meteor" sounds like simplified Steely Dan, but on "Come and Go," Virginia Coalition finally succeeds in capturing the sound of its most direct influence, Hootie & the Blowfish. Poliakoff's voice is not as deep or distinctive as that of Hootie's Darius Rucker, but his Virginia-based band aspires to the same kind of mainstream pop/rock perfected by the South Carolina quartet. And that's despite some self-conscious hip-hop referencing, notably the hidden track that kicks in after "Bumpin' Fresh," a version of Blackstreet's 1996 hit "No Diggity." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide