I remember being informed at some point that Umbrella was a girl band. Immediately visions of the Donnas and the Dance Hall Crashers started popping up in my head. After listening to this album in it's entirety, I have to say that these ladies are quite talented. In a superficial sense, Umbrella resembles the second-wave punk rock that still runs rampant throughout the Berkley scene. However, the guitar work and catchy choruses on this release keep these girls from falling prey to typical novelty treatment. In short, they've got it where it counts. On the downside, Umbrella is not breaking any new ground here. Certain influences can be felt in every song, namely that whole Lookout Records thing. But as I mentioned before, the charm of this album is the skill with which it was put together. They're not just banging through some bar chords here. It will be interesting to see where this band goes with their next few albums. Pick this one up.
B+
Other coverage for this album
Decapolis 2000Reviewed by Tom BastianWow...this band gets the "best un-heard band" award for the year 2000. My friend took a trip to Norway a few months back and he brought back with him this album. He knew this was one album the folks at Decapolis just had to review and I must admit that what my friend found over in Norway is quite a gem. Three young (I'm pretty sure still in High School) girls bring us what is one of the best…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by ChrisOkay, what if someone decided that it would be a good idea to record a CD of Sunday School tunes with a slight bit of punk/indie rock edge? That's what this sounds like to me. I'm not saying it's bad, but the lyrics and melodies are so simple that I find it hard to take them seriously, even though the ideas are certainly nice. Sonically the quality isn't the greatest, but still, I could see this…
