On Urban Fetch’s 2008 release, Songs with No Names, Purchase resident Danny Golub knocks out chords on the piano with a steadiness that makes you feel like you’re marching along in a half-emo, half-frat-boy parade; heart in one hand, beer in the other. Urban Fetch has the sound of a band that’s coalesced, and one that knows just what kind of songwriting it wants to accomplish, which is gear-changing rock with big nods to Ben Folds, and the late-Elliott Smith.

 Fetch Lives

All the songs on the album are lighting-short, which works well, since the band treats song-writing like a structural blitzkrieg.  That doesn’t mean that all their songs are up-tempo.  Quite the opposite: They like to mix and match slow and fast songs.  The reason I say they have a blitzkrieg style is because they seem to get right down to business: They don’t dally on their way to the bridge, or the chorus, or to another bridge, or to another chorus.  You get the point.  It’s a sign of fine, deliberate song-crafting.  They don’t quite have the melodic skills of the Beach Boys, or even Ben Folds, but they’ve got the right idea.

Golub’s piano chords are the defining force behind Urban Fetch’s sound: when he’s manic and jitterbugging across the keys, the songs pop.  When he’s feeling upset over some relationship issues, the tone slips into sullen balladry.  The band’s backing vocals and tastefully distorted electric guitars add a fullness to their sound: without those elements, Urban Fetch would definitely feel too sparse, and you might get a little tired of Golub’s vocal melodies (often shouted but still intelligible) and straightforward piano arrangements.

Hand sanitizer, anyone?

The vocals are solid, but the lyricism is lacking.  Good lyrics aren’t always about telling a story—they can be evocative rather than detail-oriented—but Golub’s verses seem much too vague.  There are all of these songs about failed relationships and angst, but we’re left wanting to know more.  There’s just too much “I,” “you,” “me,” and not enough suggestive metaphors and details.  Urban Fetch’s songs don’t have to be goofy, like those of Ben Folds, but I’d like to hear some lyrics that get me thinking, and stand out from all the others.

However, there are also songs like “Track 7,” which develop more of a complete sense of identity (the track names didn’t load in my iTunes—or is that the gag of Songs with No Names?):

“Got your new car, cell phone, fax machine

doesn’t matter, though.

You got your good friends, bad friends, boyfriends

thought you were bulletproof.”

The song caught my attention from the start, mainly because it got away from the “I’m doing something,” “You’re doing something” sort of lyrical mindset.  The verses stay interesting as the song progresses:

“There was fire, danger, killing.

Watched the whole thing.  Saw it all.

I hoped that you would keep your eyes shut,

but you left them open, and you figured it out.”

Then the song makes an about-face and breaks into a bouncing, swinging interlude before transitioning back into the chorus.  Listening to the song is a good time, all in all, and it hints at the fun that the band must have playing live.  I haven’t seen them yet, but they will be at The Journal News’ Beer and Food Festival tomorrow, so you’ll have a chance then.  If you’re thinking that this is just a shameless plug for the festival, listen to the band yourself.  It’ll be a chance to join that frat/emo parade I mentioned above (unless you’re all frat/emo paraded-out), with no shortage of beers in hand.

Urban Fetch plays The Journal News Greater New York Beer and Food Festival at the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown.

Saturday, October 25 at 3:30 p.m.

White doods looking even whiter than normal.

(Photos courtesy of Urban Fetch)