Local Review: The Adonis – The Bugs That Gave Me Nightmares

The Adonis
The Bugs That Gave Me Nightmares

I’m Serious It’s a Joke Records
Street: 2005
The Adonis = The Get Up Kids + Death Cab For Cutie

“I’m a pretty nice guy/ With a couple bad habits,” lead singer Andrew Shaw sings, describing The Adonis’ sound more articulately than I would have been able to. It sure is a nice record, as unassuming and honest as a Valentine from Gavin Rossdale. It has a lo-fi sound that does work in the band’s favor, a polished album would feel more at home on a Super Hits of the 90s compilation disc, but the garage-band recording style doesn’t give these songs the edge needed to sound fresh. It’s late 90s, early 00s-era emo, better than Dashboard Confessional, but not as good as early Deathcab For Cutie. In other words, they stick a little too faithfully to a genre already grown tired, without bringing much electricity to jolt it back to life.