You know you’re in trouble when the most interesting thing about a band is its name. And it’s only interesting from the perspective of either, “That’s a great band name for a fictional band” or “We came up with this while drinking.” Wait. The Telepathic Butterflies is a real band?! Oh, dear. Well, let’s set this aside this and move on to the its new record Wow & Flutter!…

… And we’re in too deep. Most of Wow is bland, mod-inspired, Britpop-infused, power pop slag. Sure, the tracks here are catchy but they’re also empty inside. The album’s like a overdose of Skittles. That said, when the band makes a slight left with its sound – like on the Elvis Costello-esque ‘Aloha!’ – it actually gets something right. The rockabilly piano and beer-soaked guitar licks make it one of the only standouts of the entire disc. ‘Elegy’ is also a noteworthy cut here, but only because it’s a combination of ‘Back in the U.S.S.R.’ and ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.’ The lyrics don’t fare much better. While they’re not terrible, they are drab and rife with generality. ‘Between the Lines,’ for example, features this dopey take on life: “Just wanna lead a simple life/ Don’t wanna read between the lines/ Just wanna feel alive/ Like I did before.” Ugh.

Look, here’s the thing: it’s not that that TB make inherently bad music; the majority of it is simply humdrum. The chord changes, the melodies, the lyrics – for the most part they’re predictable. The problem is that the Butterflies take a formulaic, everything-to-everyone genre to begin with – power pop – and drive it straight down the center line with little variation, something they’ve been doing for four albums now (including this one). Which is a shame because this band is filled with talented musicians; the rhythm section especially articulates this point. The songwriting, too, can be great when it wants to be. Unfortunately, as a whole Wow & Flutter! is not a worthwhile endeavor. On the other hand, this is why the iTunes store was invented.