The Illinois band Daemon Familiar has plenty of raw talent here, one listen to the guitars on “Buddha’s Little Helper” and “Oprah” you can’t help think about Cheap Trick or Husker Du. Lead vocalist Pablo Mena has a clean light vocal that really contrasts with the much heavier guitar sound. Some songs are excellent examples of power pop and it works fine on the memorable “Kiss Me”and the catchy baseline on “Barnyard” are just fun to listen to. The song “All’s Forgotten” is wonderfully written and played, but could really use double tracking and stronger group harmonies (you barely here the other band members). Mena’s vocal is much better suited to the mid tempo ballads here like “Gcc”and “So Sad.” I suggest he chew broken glass and add a little more Tom Waits influence before trying to pull off a song like “Tales of Sad Ulysses.” The album also suffers a bit from lack of polish overall, but despite this you will be rewarded by the guitar gems sprinkled here (“Was”) and there (“Walkin’ Away”).
