A few years ago I worked as an intern at a radio station in Boston when the local music scene was huge. My primary job was to listen to tapes from local bands. Some had promise while others probably shouldn’t have given up their day job. But I never wanted to give them negative commentary-just a lot of encouragement.

Last week while at the American Rejects show, I offered to review a CD from a band called The Upwelling and not knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised.

The Upwelling has been around since 2004 supported and endorsed by Tyson Ritter from the All American Rejects and consists of members, Ari Ingber, vocals, guitar; Josh Ingber; drums and vocals and Conor Heffernan, organ and piano. Their New Album, An American Stranger is a strong recording that is a good mix of acoustic, alternative and solid rock combined with decent lyrics.

Of the ten tracks however there a few that truly are destined for the hit parade. “American Girls” shows a sweet yet sarcastic view of the frustration but passion for woman with a punchy baseline, soothing harmonies and Ari’s smooth vocals. It is one of those songs you can hear over and over and get something new out of it each time. “The Garden” is an aggressive and cutting edge tune with a good dose of percussion and vocals with the catchy “I can’t forgive, I can’t forget, I can’t forget you”. In “The Sun” melody reinvents itself in a great arrangement by weaving in out from a pop-like danceable tune into soft spoken harmony.

“Ladder 116”, also a video on YouTube exposes a very personal experience in how 911 affected the band, enough to get into music. Named after the firehouse in their hometown of Queens NY, the song holds intensity and is carried impeccably by Ari’s amazing voice that occasionally echoes Roger Waters and Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”. But despite influences their originality prevails and will take them a very long successful career.