Frog - Kind of Blah (Audio Antihero)

Queens, NY-based soft rock duo, Frog, offer their sophomore release, a bona fide full-length that should garner the group more notice than their largely overlooked eponymous 2013 EP (Monkfish).

Though there are only two of them, Kind of Blah sounds full in the heavy reverb wash of vocalist Dan Bateman’s guitar, allowing the songs to rest on a heady, hazy cloud propelled by the understated drumming of Thomas White. Stylistically, the tracks nod to the softer ’70s and country music, Bateman’s voice shifting from a James Taylor whine to a country yodel as the mood demands. It’s like Wilco wanted to be Steely Dan but kept their alt country origins.

At a time when New York’s music scene is primarily focused on Brooklyn, Frog emerge from the pond to remind us there’s still stuff going on in Queens. Fortunately, the album will bring them to us so we don’t have to make the trek.