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There’s plenty of struggling bands striving for attention on the independent scene, so when a producer like Ed Stasium gets involved with one of them,
there’s usually a good reason for it. Indeed, the man famed for producing bands like the Ramones, the Smithereens and Soul Asylum clearly still has a
sharp eye for talent if Louisiana based four-piece Squint is anything to go by.
"Tinsel life", the follow up to the band’s debut "Beeker" was recorded with Stasium this summer, and the result is a consistently good album thick with
chunky guitars and laced with subtle hooks and melodies.
 Vocalist Dane Adrian has one of those wonderful, measured-yet-frantic voices that perfectly complements Matt Fredrickson’s guitar work and together with
a tight rhythm section and great songs, Squint make for an intriguing listen. Material like opener "Anthem for Closure" and the excellent "Unfinished" convincingly evokes the anthemic fuzz of alternative-rock bands
like Better Than Ezra and brings to mind another quality indie band featured at Indie Monkey, No Soap Radio.
The melodies are not always as immeadiate as No Soap Radio, but with repeated listens the hooks gloriously come to the fore, as "Shadow, Shadow" and "Postergirl" prove. Multiple spins of "Tinsel life" are made even more
pleasurable by Stasium’s impeccable production which polishes the songs with the kind of sonic lustre only a producer of his calibre can create.
The band has recently been selected as one of the 50 qualifiers in the Coca-Cola New Music Award, and considering the band’s CV already boasts shows with the Goo Goo Dolls and Stroke 9, it would certainly not be a
surprise if the band were to scoop the prize. On the evidence of "Tinsel Life" they certainly have the credentials to succeed even without the aid of such worthy contests.
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