DON’T WAIT: UNTIL JUNE.

Don’t Wait: Until June.

Full stomach. Vito’s Pizza to the rescue again! Excellent. Listening to an album. The album is the self-titled release by Los Angeles based band Until June. Damn, these guys write some great melodies. Brothers Josh and Dan Ballard wrote all ten songs on the album, with producer and engineer Brian Garcia adding his hand to six. The melodies leap right out at first listen and absolutely will not be denied. These melodies are on a mission. They want to take over. I’ve got “Sleepless,” “What I’ve Done,” and “All I Have” fighting for space in my head as I write this. There’s something so satisfying about a great vocal hook, even if it’s just ostensible nonsense like “oooh-oooh-oooh-oo-oooh.” I mean, it looks terribly silly written on the page, but album opener “Sleepless” starts off with exactly that vocal refrain, and it works beautifully.

If you saw my review of the live show, you’ll know Until June is a piano driven pop band, comprised of the Ballard brothers and drummer Daniel Dempsey. They’re wonderfully tight and in tune with each other whilst playing; really, just a joy to watch. Aside from the aforementioned songs, the rest of the songs on the album, at first listen, are a decent lot- quick and to the point with Dan’s fluid, beautiful guitar lines dancing along with Josh’s piano riffs.

There’s just a wee bit of hesitation on my part to order you to go out NOW, run, run to the store, or Itunes, or wherever you steal your music, and Get These Songs. See, I was going to bitch about the way the album is produced. Normally that bugs the hell out of me- reviewers harping on overproduced music and “modern” techniques that force songs to acquiesce to a radio friendly format, squeezing just enough life out of them so they sound like every other song on modern rock & pop radio. I mean, shit, don’t get me wrong. Until June don’t sound like Timbaland or Avril Lavigne or – hack…sorry, something in my throat – Daughtry. But on first or second listen, Until June’s first album on Flicker/Sony-BMG is lacking that special something that will set it apart from the pack.

Then I re-read the notes about the brothers always wanting to have a band and playing music together since high school. And I listen again to the lyrics about love and loss and hope and redemption. And I hear those undeniable hooks. And I remember that my heart- and yours too- is still able to feel and to love, and suddenly these songs that I thought could just be added to the scrap heap are suddenly transcendent. Until June’s genuine sincerity is able to overcome that extra bit of production gloss and shine through triumphantly.

So, search no more. Find this album- In Stores Now- and love it. Until June is that band you’ve been searching for to help you get over your breakup/bad day/lack of sex. Honestly. Listening to this album repeatedly causes earth-shattering orgasms. I should know – I’ve listened to it so often lately, I can barely get to the typewriter to finish this review.