Vertical Horizon’s latest release, Everything You Want (BMG), is a welcome follow-up to the band’s last release. The four-man band of vocalist Matthew Scannell, acoustic guitarist Keith Kane, bass guitarist Sean Hurley and drummer Ed Toth makes good on the pop-rock scene but doesn’t stray too far from the band’s music, which was ready for the radio before this release.

Many of the lyrics, penned by Scannell, are heartfelt, and they rehash the tried and true story of pain and frustration felt in the aftermath of a disrupted love. Much of the album has a mellow feel like Guster’s Parachute, but it also offers a few tracks with a harder, rock edge. Vertical Horizon’s first single from the album, “We Are,” starts off with heavy guitar chords and works itself into a smooth rhythm before quickly returning to a steady mix of percussion and vocals. The song was quickly picked up by radio stations because of its edgy rock chords and alluring lyrics.

The album’s title track, “Everything You Want,” shows Scannell’s fearless attempt to bare his soul in his lyrics: “But under skinned knees and skid marks/ Past the places where you used to learn/ You howl and listen/ Listen and wait for the/ The echoes of angels who won’t return.” Scannell writes of his conquest’s subconscious knowledge that her relationship