ity Sloan. They put out what is possibly their most consistent album since 1994's Twice Removed and I can barely even be bothered to write about it. I guess rock is dead or something.

I mean, what's the point? Unless you're Canadian or a power pop enthusiast...hold on a sec, I have to slap myself for using the term power pop. THWACK! Power pop is bullshit. The really good stuff is pop-metal, pop-punk, pop-rock or rock'n'roll. Most of the rest is just sad-sack wimpy retro bullshit too chicken to go all-out rock and too defensive to just be radio pop. The only reason I want to use the word power pop for Sloan is that they're too damn friendly for US success. They can kick out like Cheap Trick enough to qualify as pop-metal, but their voices are completely devoid of swagger. I saw footage of them doing a show in Canada once and they looked like twigs. Twigs wearing glasses.

Anyhow, Action Pact follows two strong "alt-rock" albums (which they'll never top cuz the innocence is lost), a whole lot of indulgent C.-Everett-Koop-koop-koop-eee-doop-age and Pretty Together, which was half the sound of a retro-pop group dying ("Great Wall Of China", ugggh) and half the debut of a great adult contemporary monolith ("The Other Man" was deservedly their biggest chart hit up north). The new album turns the amps back up while maintaining the renewed belief that people who don't actively seek the past might be listening (though baffling rawk filler like "Nothing Lasts Forever Anymore" can only be explained as a shout-out to canuck acts like LeRoux who sprung up in the wake of Loverboy). Producer Tom Rothrock gets more oomph than usual and everything's so drone-strummy and shiny that new classics like "False Alarm" and "I Was Wrong" could be awesome new Interpol singles, if not for Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland's endlessly summerful, friends 4-ever vocals.

But it’s HOPELESS. They've got a more immediate sound now than tried-to-be's like Matthew Sweet and Fountains Of Wayne, but no American is going to be fooled that these guys are STARS. Without Sweet's romantic strength or FOW's gift for lyrical novelty they're never going to get past the Canadians and the collegiates for even one number (OK, "The Other Man" could have done well but delayed US release and corporate disinterest snuffed out that one). Had they made it once, critic fans could hope to bring them a little of that artistic comeback money (it worked for those Mozz-hyping tin-ears) but Sloan's consistent songcraft, varied touchstones and amiability are hard to push aggressively over and over unless...unless you like to say "power pop".