The name has it all; not quite your typical identikit band name, yet it is sharp and long winded enough to see a few more people take notice. In a musical climate currently struggling for originality; names seem to be just as important nowadays as the actual aural quality on offer. Not so much just a name as a dictation of their sound, 4-piece Cute Is What We Aim For certainly seem to have taken current “scene” considerations onboard.

The band story is quite short; formed in January 2005 and decided not to gig until they felt the blend was right; and now in the autumn of their teenage years, they’ve been propelled to potential stardom with their debut album being released by this year’s music hothouse; Fueled by Ramen (Panic! At The Disco, anyone?). There are easy comparisons to draw, but these guys sold more records in their first week out in the States than Panic! Does this mean they are destined for bigger things?

There’s little evidence in the 12 tracks offered up here to support a positive or negative verdict to this question. Thankfully; Cute are not the new Panic! in every sense of the word; sure, they may be the next emo poster boys and also shoot into the stratosphere off very little long established merit, but we are discussing two totally separate beasts here. Panic! offer an alternative and well-crafted sound, and begged so much to differ from anything on offer, only to be shackled with the ‘emo’ tag and being hated as much as they are loved for it. Cute Is What We Aim For on the other hand are less annoyingly addictive, the songs are well crafted from many elements known and well-loved. The basic structure is that of a pop-punk band, catchy hooks, addictively sugar sweet vocals and choruses that grab the better part of your attention for most of the day; with all that on board, they also offer a rare substance and do peak a little higher than their counterparts on the originality scale.

For sure, some of this credit is purely with vocal delivery, Shaant Halcikyan has a voice unlike almost anything I’ve heard, not overly original, but there is a quality that makes him totally convincing as all of the socially aware lyrics drive hard to hit home. The observations are witty and relevant, and the lyrics may quite possibly be enough to keep you hooked, even if you cannot stand the way they are sung or the music around them. The liner notes provide more entertainment than they really should, but the skill here is how well the lyrics draw you in with a very conscious story telling ethic shining through. This could serve to make the band an instant success with angst-filled teenagers just looking to get by; that’s exactly what Shaant has done and he now portrays it with so much wit and conviction that it’s hard to dismiss anything on offer from this band.

Predictably; the album sets off at light speed, opening ‘Newport Living’ is the sort of song that just leaves you anticipating more, the chorus will instantly get stuck in your head (congratulations if you manage to interpret the exact lyrics before the end of the song). Throughout the album; lots of lines are designed to be clever and provoke maximum effect, something they certainly do succeed with; possibly an overly relied upon cheap trick, which nonetheless adds a little bit of extra appeal to the simple verse/chorus formula. ‘Risqué’ is the next stand out, which looks at the subject of crushes and provides a few brilliant (if slightly in-comprehendible) lines “and these fingertips are moving faster than these lips, so you can only imagine how jealous my mouth is.” It’s becoming instantly apparent that there is a lot of diversity in the album, sadly some of the early strengths are overplayed and eventually become a little frustrating as similar aspects repeat, though it only detracts slightly from the overall experience. ‘The Fourth Drink Instinct’ is something very special on offer; a sombre mood is established through the verse and an acoustic guitar added to the pre-chorus gives the eventually addictive chorus so much more of an effect; it’s all euphoric stuff. The song is more of a ballad than I honestly expected to hear at all on this album; let alone smack bang in the middle.

‘The Curse of Curves’ also digs out its own little niche; combining many elements already used on this very CD, the styles are mashed together and blend superbly for a slightly unexpectedly strong song. Moods calm slightly toward the end, ‘Lyrical Lies’ is the predictable acoustic track, though sounding closer to Jeff Buckley than every other “random” acoustic track thrown in by popular guitar bands, meaning the stereotype can be expunged, and gratefully so; as this song proves to be one of the album’s strengths. Questions usually surface by now on how the album will end, will it burn out and just stop, or still get stronger? ‘Teasing to Please (Left Side, Strong Side)’ suggest burning out at first, surprise (as it were) lays in store when the song crescendo’s eventually into a addictive sing-along anthem, topping the whole thing off with some nice group vocals after the music fades out and the result is the desired, you’ll want to go right back to the start and listen again.

As far as debut albums go; Cute Is What We Aim For may well have made their defining album, the next one will be very harshly judged in comparison to this. They have made a time capsule as such, the lyrical content can never be the same as the band have written the songs of teenage angst, high school crushes, and dealing with overly-fashion conscious friends and done an exceptional job. For all those looking for a quick fix and some nice tunes for the car stereo: this is perfect. Also for those tiring of the current lack of originality; Cute Is What We Aim For are certainly a prospect to behold. Who knows? If they erupt to stardom like label mates Panic! At The Disco you may be telling people of how you heard it here first.