AMG Review of Surveillance

Tom Schulte
All Music Guide

True artists find a voice and know how far they can stretch its ability to communicate. Trans Am have done just that with instrumental rock which relies on synthesizers almost as much as techno does. They can be at one moment abrasively digital, then quietly ambient by the end of the track. Such vacillation could be overly ambitious for many groups, but Trans Am manages to pull it off in a way that makes you think the song could have gone nowhere else. By working a contrasting harsh delivery and tranquil coda into a single piece naturally, Trans Am prove themselves deft masters of their craft.