Bands’ album covers can say a lot about a group’s creative forces and when the cover is littered with collages of random animals, scenes and people, it says that something crazy is going on. Troubled Hubble, a band with some odd lyrics, has that crazy something.

The four band members, Chris Otepka on vocals and guitars, guitarist Josh Miller, and brothers Andrew and Nathan Lathum on bass and drums repectively, have been friends since childhood in their small town of Elburn, IL (located about two hours West of Chicago). With a lack of entertainment in the small suburb, the four musicians came together in 1999 at the prompt of budding vocalist and guitarist Otepka.

“Elburn has no music scene whatsoever. It’s just a quiet little place where we can live and write and record and be ourselves,” said Otepka on NWItimes.com.

Otepka, having written a few of his own songs, needed a band to back him up and when he was asked to do a last minute gig in Chicago, the other three were able to join him. And so formed the group now known as Troubled Hubble. The name originated from the Hubble Telescope, which in 1999 was a big deal in the newspapers due to its failure.

The band has released three albums prior to their latest release, Perturbia, which is a punk-pop creation, suggestive of the early Green Day/Alternative rock days. Some of the songs are hilarious, telling stories about killer migraines or being in love with a canoe. While the melodies may not reach the creative pinnacle of the lyrics, the tunes carry a nice beat that one can easily tap along to.

The song “Airplanes” is an all out ballad. It opens slowly with the strumming of a few chords on the electric guitar, drawing in the listener with a handful of notes in the background being plucked before breaking into a melodious harmony of the drums, chords, notes, and a synthesizer. The song, make that ballad, takes the climax back down to a slow fade-out of each instrument before sweeping upward again into a different and more upbeat crescendo. The notes become more distinct and the drums beat harder, as the strumming of the chords fade away. A few lines are sung, including the verse, “Flew my airplane to your house/ Ran your doorbell/ Got in my airplane and we flew away” in the middle of the song, before a climax of upbeats kicks in again.

“Migraine” begins with a fast, almost furious guitar riff that is soon accompanied by harder drumbeats and an intense second guitar attack. The voice of Otepka is nasal and high pitched as he sings, “My mom is on the floor begging to please take away this Migraine/ God damn you, Migraine.” While the fact that this band can write about an intense headache is funny, the song itself nearly gives the listener a headache due to its repetitive lyrics and Otepka’s voice being more like a bug needing to be squashed rather than soothed

Another song that is quite funny is “I love my Canoe.” It opens with upbeat drumming and a shimmering guitar part. The song evokes a head-bopping action due to the fast-paced drumming, which is soft in the background, and the guitar is not overwhelming either, simple and electric throughout the song. Otepka’s voice is vibrant with happiness, is if he was dosed with “happy drugs” as he sings, “I love my canoe” over and over. A story is weaved throughout the song about needing something to do and seeing the canoe triggers how many infinite possibilities lay before him. The song really proves how little inspiration there really must be in their suburban hometown.

The band has good intentions, evoking a laugh here and there, but it seems like the songs can only be listened to a few times because the jokes gets old or even worse, the drone of Otepka’s voice and the whiny guitar creates a real migraine.

Grade : B-