Imagine that Bono and The Killers’ lead singer Brandon Flowers had a baby. They then raised this baby in a bar in Allston in the early 2000’s. Now imagine that this baby grew up to become an angsty 13 year-old boy who tried to write love songs for his eighth grade crush. The recording this boy made would bear a striking resemblance to Midatlantic’s new album.

Midatlantic’s newest effort in alt-rock/britpop, “The Longest Silence” (self-released) hit stores on September 16 and has received a warm welcome from fans.

Formerly The Bleedin Bleedins, Midaltantic changed their name early this past summer, following a change in musical style. As the new name signifies, this style is influenced by both American and British music. As The Bleedin Bleedins, they released one album entitled “Life Without Computers.” It sounds slightly lighter, less dramatic, and less echoey than “The Longest Silence”.

Upon first listening I found myself quickly bored by the lackluster drumming and repetitive guitar licks of “The Longest Silence.” The lyrics do nothing to cure this boredom as they lack any originality or hint of intelligence. The production is a little overambitious, with orchestral sections accompanying the drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals that make up Midatlantic. There are a few songs (e.g. “Love”) in which this U2- loving band takes a break from their normal hollering to go for something a little more sensitive. Although these few songs are softer, they are also much cheesier. The best songs on the album are the simpler ones (“Writing in the Sand” and “Too Little Too Late”) in which Midatlantic do not try to hide that they are a below average band by laying on the heavy production. After a week of listening to “The Longest Silence” on and off, I found myself humming some of the guitar lines. This album’s main strength is that it can be catchy.

This album gets two out of five stars from me. If you were looking for something to play in your new Irish bar in Brighton as background music, this album would do the trick, provided that you don’t repeat it more than once a night. If you’re looking for an album to really listen to, don’t waste your time with Midatlantic’s “The Longest Silence.” I have a feeling that we will only be hearing more “silence” from them in future.