If you look up descriptions of Pilot Speed on the net, you’ll find many a site which likens them to the anthemic musings of Coldplay, Keane and all those other bands belonging to a genre that might be conveniently called “Grey’s Anatomy rock.”

Such a comparison is a denigration of the Toronto group’s records and to rock music in general. While the aforementioned groups rose to popularity on a safe, painfully harmless ethos, Pilot Speed are rising to popularity (quickly) on a more edgy form of composition.

Granted, the band’s sound isn’t exactly groundbreaking – not at all, in fact. Leadoff track (and single) “Put the Phone Down” rides slow on a four note guitar pattern which varies only slightly for the song’s entirety, the most remedial drum beat behind it, often feeling (in a good way) that it might lose said beat at any second.

Pilot Speed’s longer, pseudo-epic songs that typified their previous albums are pretty much gone on Wooden Bones, and it’s safe to say that much of the credit (or blame) for that goes to producer Dennis Herring, who was behind controls for the last two Modest Mouse albums… and had fans of that band crying when the space-y prog-rock “Stars Are Projectors” kind of stuff had transformed into catchy “Float On”-type tunes (not that anybody in the world really disliked “Float On”).

This lack of grandiosity is a welcome change, however – a band like Pilot Speed relies too much on concise vocal hooks, not to mention a lack of rhythmic variation, to be able to entertain anyone with a vast sonic cacophony. The stark soundscapes in the background are fainter and druggier than many groups of the same style; again, this is also a credit.

Singer Todd Clark has a way of singing his melodies in a way that seems plaintive, and yet manages to contain a good deal of emotion behind it – in “Bluff” and “Midnight Fires” in particular. And even though some songs manage to get bogged down in some heavy-handed arrangements with unnecessary synthesized strings and generic chord progressions - Wooden Bones remains a rather charming listen; the band still has their big-scale dreams and technique, but they don’t try to disguise it as something else.

This style might not appeal to you at all, and for that no one would blame you. But bear in mind that bands like Oasis and Coldplay have been trying to do the exact same kind of thing as Pilot Speed, having not been as successful. And there’s still people following their music…apparently.

For more Pilot Speed,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pilotspeed
Website: http://www.pilotspeed.net/