The Envy Corps sell a T-shirt that proclaims the Iowa- and Nebraska-based band is "Radiohead for Coldplay Fans."
Vocalist and bassist Luke Pettipoole said in an interview last week that he came up with the idea with his tongue in cheek, and that he's been surprised how receptive fans have been. "People really seem to enjoy it," he said. "I don't know if they're making fun of us, or we're making fun of Coldplay, or what."
But it's possible there's no mockery involved at all. After a one-record stint on major-label imprint Vertigo (which released 2008's Dwell), the Envy Corps returned this fall with the self-released full-length It Culls You. Beyond the way Pettipoole's phrasing and frequent falsetto bring to mind Thom Yorke ("I sing the way I sing," he said), the album sounds like the child of Radiohead's Hail to the Thief - and in the best way possible. Spacious yet full, odd yet alluring, the parentage is obvious but It Culls You never feels like you're listening to a clone. If Coldplay figures in, it's in the way the Envy Corps favors accessibility over alienation.
