Getaway Driver

For two years, Lawrence's Getaway Driver has been pounding local and national pavements, slowly building a reputation through relentless house partying and full-blown tours with brother band Salt the Earth. The Driver's debut EP, 2001's Sparkling Pistol, was plagued by lo-fi production that did its best to bury the quartet's penchant for propulsive pop, though key ingredients shone through the fog. The group's recently issued follow-up, the wonderfully titled Clichés With Harmonies, marks a leap forward for the group, which seems to have found that elusive connection between jagged rock and accessible hook-making. Buoyed by minty production courtesy of former guitarist Brad Lewis, the sophomore release is built on the interplay between guitarist and vocalist Stephen Wolfe and his bandmates -- Wolfe tag-teams vocally with bassist David Newton and grinds axes with guitarist Nate Harold. When it jells, it works like a night shift, and tracks such as "The River in Question" and "The Breakdown Script" hint that Getaway Driver might become one of 2003's lauded area talents. In the end, however, shortages of energy and ideas don't hurt the band as much as lack of material does. Because Clichés contains only four songs (one of them an instrumental), fans will have to wait to see if a full-length will establish Getaway Driver as a local force of reckon.