Holiday should be all over Cities 97 right about now. Their brand of catchy, do-do-do harmonizing alternative rock is perfect for the station's unoffensive playlist. On second thought, Holiday may be a bit too jaunty for Cities' recent spurt of the David Greys and Daniel Powters. Evidence of this is their song "Mexico," a perfect head-bobbing "hey hey hey" number that was played over the wattage during last season's Minnesota Wild games. The song is a bit of an anomaly on "Fashionably Late," more indebted to Sugar Ray and post-game Jose Cuervo shots than the tamer, nice-guyness of later tracks. The song, "Yeah Yeah Yeah" has singer Nick Emmel detailing a boy's pathetic reticence: "Well it's the weekend/She's out with her friends/You have regrets don't tell her why/She's wearing that dress/You're at your lowest/You can't believe she's with that guy."

Holiday sounds best when they're playing up their melodic strengths, pushing for singability over stand-out lyrics. When the music sounds this good, you really don't need anything deeper than the despairing love of "Kamikaze" ("I'm going down in flames/And this wreckage is calling your name/There is no time to be afraid/Because it's too late for me") or the self-destruction of "Bourbon Street," which has the cutely/cruelly prophetic line, "I gave myself to charity." You just need some deftly placed "da da das," which Holiday is pleasantly bursting with.

www.holidayband.com