LONGWAVE THERE’S A FIRE RCA

Coldplay’s recent critical drubbing is enough to make anyone hoping to keep his or her indie cred hide the Radiohead posters, even if Chris and Thom have done just fine on the charts. So there’s something brave about how on their third disc NYC’s Longwave display their love for unfashionably earnest and expansive guitar heroics. Steve Schiltz’s vocals help them avoid messianic grandiosity: his nice-guy warble undercuts the guitars’ brooding menace, and it’s refreshing to hear a little humility in this sonic setting. And though There’s a Fire flirts with synth bleeps, Longwave sound best when they’re trading artistic risks for comforting familiarity. "River (Depot Song)" and "Next Plateau" walk the line between anthem and cliché, and the teen-drama vibe of "Tell Me I’m Wrong" is more Dawson’s Creek sentimental than The OC hip. This kind of heartfelt, mid-tempo alt-rock hasn’t been cutting-edge in some time, but maybe that’s the point.

Longwave + Embrace + Augustana | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | July 28 | 617.228.6000