"I Can't Wait" sounds like summer, with its irresistible horn bounce over steel-tinged drums and the classic R&B premise of kissing off the unfaithful lover who's bound to return. Much of Hepcat's soulful style comes from the interplay between lead vocalists Greg Lee and Eric Desert, high tenor and earthy baritone, effortlessly trading lead and background, harmonizing, sometimes alternating line by line. Lee got his old schooling straight from the source: his father was an engineer at the legendary Muscle Shoals studios, home of Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Aretha Franklin, and more legends than we can list here. His best moment comes in "Rudies All Around," as he takes you on a tour of rudeboy turf around the world, decked out with scat and vibrato, mangoes and cocoa beans. As it closes down, they begin riffing on "The Banana Boat Song" and the Andrews Sisters' "Rum and Coca-Cola," and you feel like shouting over the fadeout to stop, come back, and sing us some more. Another solid vocal performance is the near-doo wop crooning on "Goodbye Street," a rocksteady ballad where sax-and-trumpet interplay mirrors the vocal tradeoffs.

With a blend of swampy, infectious grooves ("Get Miles") and funky acoustic riffs ("Whippin' Piccadilly"), "Bring It On" is a definite trip. But what really makes this album a gem are the unique percussive, jangling sounds that change from song to song and the distinct variations between the band members' individual vocal styles. The trippy yet catchy "78 Stone Wobble" exemplifies their touch for bizarre yet endearing lyrics. With lines like "Open-hearted surgery never works/So eat your words or hide 'em in the dirt/Cause I don't need nobody to know me/I don't want nobody to know," it's hard not to like these guys.

One drawback that plagues many new bands is a homogenous sound they never seem to break free of. Gomez, however, effortlessly tears down the walls of similarity, laying down a new beat on every track. From the simple, bluesy acoustic styling of "Make No Sound" to the off-kilter electric stomp on "Love Is Better Than a Warm Trombone," they keep you guessing. Listening to "Bring It On," one gets a sense that the album was born out of a late-night Guinness session at one of their flats, taped and intended for their own private use.

All 12 tracks on the album are just as powerful and introspective as past songs, but it seems that the dark clouds have parted and a more content Mould has emerged. Songs such as "New # 1," "Taking Everything," and "Sweet Serene" typify the heavy-handed pop sound for which Mould is known, but this time with a lighter spirit. Not surprisingly, Mould has also come up with a whole new batch of unique and catchy riffs and melodies that tend to stick in your head long after you turn the stereo off. The tinny chops on "First Drag of the Day" and the pounding acoustic guitars on "Vaporub" are hard to shake.