Pitchfork

Oxford Collapse keep finding new reasons to celebrate, even if the hangover can be felt almost as soon as the reverb from their scrappy guitar riffs dies away. Last time we heard from the Brooklyn three-piece, they were singing about how "wonderful" it was to move back home with the parents, on latest single "Spike of Bensonhurst". Now there's this: "Congratulations," Michael Pace and Adam Rizer sing on the chorus of "Amongst Friends", from Oxford Collapse's forthcoming Hann-Byrd EP for Princeton, N.J. label Comedy Minus One. The occasion this time is a loved one's becoming "one of the family," with a warm welcome from jangling strums, shouted call-and-response vocals, and sprightly drum fills. "Through being cryptic and unclear," the group declare, and "Amongst Friends" manages the tricky feat of feeling intimate even though its specifics remain a bit muddy even by the time it's over. "Chiefly British," says the dictionary next to "amongst," but Oxford who-gives-a-fuck-about-commas Collapse make charming use of some good ol' American vernacular, too: "All's I want is you." Pop open a bottle of bubbly-- here's to another goddamn new song.

MP3:> Oxford Collapse: "Amongst Friends"
[from the Hann-Byrd EP; due 06/10/08 on Comedy Minus One]