“Derivative” can be a damning indictment for a new band. Who wants to listen to music that sounds exactly like music they have already listened to? It is a requirement, along with mathematically impossible hair and a goofy name, that new bands bring a new dish to the indie smorgasbord. Otherwise, a band just gets labeled as a Decemberists cover band right out of the gate, and where can they go from there? Not very far.

Take Boston’s Aberdeen City. Upon listening to their record, The Freezing Atlantic, their influences are not actually that obvious; the mere fact that they are influenced in the first place is what sticks out. The listener is immediately struck with a feeling of “I have heard this band before,” and then cranes their brain to figure out who those inspirations might be. The songs are melancholy, atmospheric, with the occasional disco drum and terrible lyrical couplets. So who did Aberdeen City steal those ideas from?

Every alternative American band in the past 5 years, essentially. Take a look at the bands they have opened for recently: Stellastarr*, British Sea Power, The National, Elefant, The Go! Team, and We Are Scientists. If you like that scene, you’ll like this band—as for sound, Aberdeen City are equal parts Arcade Fire and Killers, with a generous dose of Interpol blending it all together. Singer/bassist Brad Parker has a caterwaul/whine/bark that manages to blend Brandon Flowers, Paul Banks, and Thom Yorke, heard on “Best Chances Are Gone.” The mid-tempo grower takes in those myriad influences to create a sound that is at once familiar, but never stodgy. The drums that build to nowhere, the depressing arpeggios, the drawn out middle 8: we have heard it all before, but we still let it take over our iTunes. Elsewhere, the songs get an upgrade in mood and energy. “Mercy” takes Interpol’s more danceable moments from Antics, adds just the right amount of The Bends sentiment, and repeats the title word until it takes on a life of its own. The song is a bottles-and-cans bouncer, falling down the stairs shambolic but still making a go to save the universe with indie-disco. Aberdeen City knows they have an army of older bands to back them up - why screw with a formula that is so clearly effective?

Thankfully, we do hit a track that does not sound egregiously like twenty other bands, with definite potential hit “God Is Going to Get Sick of Me.” Sure, the influences are still there and audible, but there is a subtlety in this track that subdues the obviousness. The main nod to Interpol comes in the whirring, chiming guitar sound. The vocals don’t sound as much Flowers as Parker, finally, and the synths in the background are cool instead of disco. All in all, this track creates what Aberdeen City are going to need to stick out among the atmospheric, American, alternative scene: an identity, an original sound, and a unique approach to a common sound. Unfortunately, the lyrics remain pretty dire.

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