Here at Ivygate we like to put a critical eye on things. You readers are smart; if all you wanted was feel-good propaganda you wouldn’t bother visiting us – you’d turn to one of China’s state-controlled newspapers or your alma mater’s alumni magazine. Sometimes, however, we come across men and women like Joey Cheek and Alicia Sacramone, individuals who are so un-Vayneresque that we temporarily lose our capacity for snark and vitriol.

The same holds true when we discover intelligent and inventive bands like Miss Vintage. Fronted by lead singer and guitarist Jason Min, Penn ‘05, Harvard GSE ‘07, the band’s sound falls under the genre of art rock, a term that allmusic defines as having “experimental or avant-garde influences” and being “intrinsically album-based, taking advantage of the format’s capacity for longer, more complex compositions and extended instrumental explorations.” (If all this music jargon is addling your brain, just think Explosions in the Sky with vocals or Coldplay without as many pop-y hooks).

Since forming in Philadelphia in 2006, Miss Vintage has played at over 150 rock venues and college campuses, mostly on the East Coast, and has released one album entitled Runways. The band's second LP, Our Lives Are Not Through Just Yet, will not be released until later this month, but we were able to finagle two of its tracks for your enjoyment: “Trains,” and “The Last Time We Cried”.

Miss Vintage - Trains

More review and another song after the jump.

"Trains" and "The Last Time We Cried" highlight the group's interest and virtuosity in instrumentals; a minute passes in either song before Min's haunting, ethereal voice joins in, and even then it never seems to quite steal the show; at certain points his voice fades away and is replaced by lengthy, (but what we sense are important), instrumental interludes.

The lyrics of both songs delve on the hard realities of the human experience. "Trains" uses the disruptive sound of approaching trains as a metaphor for the external, everyday situations that can threaten to tear apart relationships. And "The Last Time" meditates on death, or more precisely love after death. In an art form that is all too often ruled by generic pop-rock bands spewing out facile lyrics and repetitive riffs, Miss Vintage is a welcome departure from the usual.

Miss Vintage - The Last Time We Cried

If this review has piqued your interest, check out Miss Vintage's myspace and website. And please let us know of any other review-worthy Ivy bands by emailing us at tips@ivygateblog.com. In doing so you'll be helping us and your fellow peers find the choicest cyber morsels in this media saturated world.