With the arrival of the Hives, the Vines, the Strokes and the White Stripes, music experienced what many touted as the return of the rock band. In 2004, the White Stripes won a Grammy for Best Rock Song, an honor previously awarded to musicians like Alanis Morissette, Soul Asylum, Creed and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who all have a smoother, easily digestible sound. The success of bands like the White Stripes inspired other bands like Jet to put a fresh face on rock that made it accessible — and extremely successful with mainstream modern America and listeners worldwide. Likewise, the Colour's debut album Between Earth and Sky continues the sound of a classic five-piece rock band but does so without adding anything new or interesting to the mix. Making an album that channels "a wide swath of the collective rock consciousness, generating energy not unlike the early Stones or the swaggering ghost of Jim Morrison," as the band's promotional material claims, is a difficult task to stand up to in 2007. Listeners can hear hints of the original 1960s music of the Rolling Stones or the Doors as it was done — and done well — by the original artists. Over the last few years, we have heard young, contemporary bands take their own interpretations of this music in new and interesting directions. This is familiar territory for listeners. To create something that hasn't already been done requires real creativity and a spark of something that feels genuinely different. Unfortunately for the Colour, Between Earth and Sky does not have this spark. There is nothing on this album that hasn't already been seen on MTV2 countless times. It sounds like something Jet might make on a day it was feeling particularly bored and a little bit country. The voice of the Colour singer, Wyatt Hull, is reminiscent of 16 Horsepower's vocalist but, again, with none of the feeling or honesty. It sounds like the music all your friends made in high school and everyone liked because their friends made it, but certainly not anything that will grab listeners' attention. This could be because all of the songs that start off OK always culminate in the singer repeating the same lines over and over for the last two minutes — with the same unchanging beat and guitar riffs. The song "Devil's Got a Holda Me," the album's fourth track and the only song with a music video — presumably to be marketed as the "standout" track — ends in the singer repeating "lonely" over and over and sounds oddly familiar. After further reflection, it sounds strangely like the song "Lonely Day" by Phantom Planet. In the band's promotional statement, the Colour drummer Nathan Warkentin said, "We feed off of honest rock 'n' roll, whether it be shamelessly pompous or brutally honest." Certainly, this album draws heavily from rock 'n' roll, but it has none of the boldness that would be necessary for it to be considered pompous, and it certainly does not feel honest. While the appealing, raw black and white image of some well-moisturized hands holding soil on the CD cover is what initially draws listeners to the album, it, unfortunately, is not representative of the sound of the music. In fact, with each passing listen, it seems like these hands are just the beginning of the band's image problem. Maybe they are trying to be ironic by having black and white album art for a band called the Colour — I can get past that. Once you turn over the album to see a picture of five dirty guys who look like they just arrived somewhere after a sleepless night of travel — appearing very tortured and brilliant posing behind a cougar. If this doesn't seem contrived enough, then consider the fact that this band called the Colour is not even from England. The band met at art school in Los Angeles in 2003 and formed a band after they moved into a house together and "chose poverty over domestication. … There is a beauty to that depravity which holds our purpose" recalled bassist Derek Van Heule on the group's promotional material. A quick visit to the band's website shows the band sitting in front of a trailer. (Oh, brother. It's amazing that a band that sits around in dirty cougar lairs and in front of trailers found a way to make a fancy Flash website.) Aside from the fact that the band seems particularly obnoxious due to unnecessary U's and cougars, there simply is nothing compelling about this music and listening to it makes rock enthusiasts feel more like victims of a contrived marketing strategy than inspired starving artists. The Colour will be playing at the Annex on March 10, but you won't see this reviewer there. I'd rather stay home and listen to the Rolling Stones, the Strokes or even Phantom Planet. Grade: 2 out of 5