All Access seems to be moving in a new direction these days. Whereas in the past, they seemed to be channeling The Ramones and Green Day, Secrets shows them paralleling current favorites Radiohead and Coldplay, with a dash of the Strokes thrown in for good measure.
"Baby" could be an outtake from the early days of "Creep"-era Radiohead, while "Nixon" is a hard driving, straight ahead rock tune in the mode of Audio Adrenaline. "Frying Tonight" features fuzzy guitars over an MC5-like vocal, while "Sarah Jane" veers into a Coldplay meets '70s' rock mixture. "Brian Wilson" is not a Barenaked Ladies cover.
Usually when groups take a sudden shift in musical direction, the results aren't pretty (read: R.E.M. "Monster-era"), but All Access seems to make it work here. The EP leaves you wanting more, which is a good sign.
3.5 tocks
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