Alien 酷我

Arco's fragile, ethereal acoustic pop recalls fellow Brits like Travis, Coldplay, and Starsailor, combined with the Kid A-era thematic alienation of Radiohead's Thom Yorke. The relative brevity of the three-song, ten-minute Alien EP makes it virtually impossible to judge the band on its own merits without benefit of contemporary reference points, but for fans of any or all of the abovementioned, the disc is unlikely to disappoint. And to their credit, Arco never falls prey to blatant plagiarism -- their melodies are engaging, their arrangements are lovely, and frontman Chris Healey's anguished vocals are quite penetrating.