Skiba's clean, low vocal range is a welcome relief from hearing falsetto-minded boys trying to brood to the same style of music.

 
There's no use denying it: Matt Skiba is an adult. The late-'90s punk-rock sound of his band Alkaline Trio has aged into pop punk that longtime fans groan about. So it's no wonder Skiba has teamed up with buddy and housemate Josiah Stenbrick to form Heavens. Here is an outlet for Skiba to showcase his talents that would only be further pigeonhole Alkaline Trio into sold-out territory.

Now, on to reviewing Heavens' debut, Patent Pending. Skiba's clean, low vocal range is a welcome relief from hearing falsetto-minded boys trying to brood to the same style of music. Lush, well-produced instrumentation abounds. Lyrics easily shift from stinging to sweet, arresting to cooing.

Although the album as a whole is somewhat redundant, it's worth getting through a few early duds to the second half, which is much more impressive. "Another Night" pushes everyone out of its way and marches through a crowd with defiance, while "True Hate" is a bittersweet lullabye, with Skiba crooning softly, "too much too late, true love, true hate."

However, I wish there were an explanation, or even recognition, of why the album's 11 songs are chopped up into 99 tracks. Hopefully the proper release will amend this for the iPod shuffle generation. Or maybe it's a big middle finger to just that group.

RIYL: Longwave, The Stills, dark Brit-pop

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