Ears Wide Open: The Appearance

[Another in a series covering bands playing around L.A.:]

The Appearance aren't exactly reinventing the wheel; in fact, they're kind of pushing one downhill, waving to the past 10 years of alt-rock bands as they pass. On the Orange County quartet's debut album, "Lost in Aurora" (released last week by the Adrenaline Music Group), singer-guitarist Alan Oakes marches bandmates Chad Kulengosky, Justin McCarthy and Jason Nelson through early Jimmy Eat World and straight to the precipice of contemporary emo, power chords at full throttle and lovelorn vocals alternately soaring and intertwined. If you like what you hear on commercial radio, the Appearance may be for you -- producer Chris Fudurich keeps things nice and crisp, guitarist Kulengosky has the chops, and Oakes displays a deft enough touch with his wordplay. The Appearance have racked up impressive MySpace numbers, and it'd be no surprise if those virtual "friends" turned into real fans.

||| See the Appearance perform tonight at Red Dragon Studios, 1444 N. Highland (at Sunset). Details on the band's MySpace page, of course. And Rocket is also playing.

Here's the video for "Not a Soul":