Closer Than We Appear

After Vundabar found my review of their EP, another local band, "Closer Than We Appear" asked me to review two singles they released at a concert this Saturday, 11/3. The two singles are called "Our Old Ways" and "Don't Ever Be Content".
Closer Than We Appear is composed of Gabe Goodman (Guitar & Vocals), Jack Duff (Bass guitar), Max DiRado (Guitar) and Ben Garman (Drums). A little bit more indie rock, and they'd be an Arcade Fire clone. A little bit poppier, and they'd be a Modest Mouse clone. A little bit more punk, and they'd remind me a lot of mewithoutYou. A little bit more classic rock, and I'd be having deja vu of U2. But they manage to walk the line between all four, and create a very unique and pleasing sound. That's not to say I don't have criticisms, but I do ultimately like these two tracks.
As far as complaints go, they're mostly nitpicks. The tracks sometimes felt a bit flat, without much change in intensity. I don't expect every song to have me on my feet, but as the tracks are often somewhat upbeat, there were times where I felt they could have done with a breakdown of some sort, something to break up the repetition and create some excitement. A big way to help this would be to add some space in the melodies and rhythm instruments. Sometimes the most powerful choice musically is to not play. Now, that's not to say that these tracks are bad, but within the context of an full length album, or even an EP, I would expect these two tracks to be among the more relaxed tracks, broken up perhaps by something more bold.
Other than that I don't really have much. I would have liked more bass, drums and rhythm guitar in the mix, but that's getting really specific. The recordings could use a bit more energy and passion, especially after having heard them done very energetically live. I think my final complaint is that the two tracks do sound somewhat similar, in a very broad way. That's not a bad thing for just two tracks but it could be a problem if it lasted across an entire album. On a full length release, I think it would be good to see them push boundaries a bit, try writing some songs that are more influenced by genres that don't typically show themselves in their music.
After listening to these two tracks, I am certainly excited to see where Closer Than We Appear is going. While certainly not flawless, I think they demonstrate a strong base that, with a little experimentation, could really become a versatile and interesting group to listen to.
Check out their Bandcamp (http://closerthanweappear.bandcamp.com) if you're interested. "Our Old Ways" and "Don't Ever Be Content" should be up for free download soon.