Forty years old, and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up — although making music mix discs for reasonably hip restaurants and clothing stores for a living would be pretty cool. 34 Satellite has a similar problem; based on the new Stop, it seems its members don’t know whether they want to be atmospheric rockers (the epic opener “Elijah St. Marie” and the appropriately spacey closer “Spaceman”), playlist-friendly balladeers (the whisper-to-a-louder-whisper title track), late-inning Replacements (“Get Out Alive”), or Matthew Sweet (“Longest Day”).
But that’s OK. While indecision isn’t a desirable trait in a brain surgeon or a hangman, it’s not necessarily a bad thing for a band. Vocalist/guitarist Marc Benning, lead guitarist Marc Smith, drummer Mark Boquist, and bass player Mike Santoro — a bunch of M’s who own membership cards (some expired) in such bands as Patty Hurst Shifter, Big Back Forty, the Disciples of Agriculture, and Whiskeytown — take the concepts “modern rock,” “guitar pop” and “roots awareness” and combine them as they see fit across Stop.
What results are solid songs — most notably the thumping, inquisitive “Charleston” and the radio-ready “Getting High With A Stranger” — that hold up on repeated visits and are, well, good candidates for inclusion on mix discs for reasonably hip restaurants or clothing stores.