THE JET AGE
Album review: "Domestic Disturbances"

Eric Tischler is thinking about cheating but only in the abstract. For "Domestic Disturbances," the Jet Age's new album, the singer-guitarist has written a song cycle - not autobiographical, he says - about a couple that's feeling stuck. "We used to stay up all night/Now all we do is sleep," he sings in "I Want to Touch You Again."

This isn't untraveled territory for the veteran local trio, which grew out of the Hurricane Lamps. The band's previous album, "In 'Love,' " was another suite of songs about a relationship that went off course. This time, Tischler includes references to economic and political distress - one track is titled "Change I Can Believe In" - but the principal downturn is in romance.

As both a guitarist and a songwriter, Tischler has long emulated the galloping jangle of '80s alt-rock. That continues on "Domestic Disturbances," which boosts the pop quotient with more backup vocals than usual. Yet the album also draws on '70s hard rock, with bluesy song structures and heroic guitar solos. Perhaps the other two musicians are simply trying to match the power of Pete Nuwayser's drumming, but the Jet Age's reflections on home-front discontent are wrapped in stadium-size music.

--Mark Jenkins, Dec. 9, 2011