When a five-piece band comes together with energetic and hopeful lyrics, it makes sense to give good reviews. Starting Fires, by hue, maintains consistent and cheerful throughout its nearly 45-minute span. It's definitely a feel-good album that promises bigger and more exciting plans for these young musicians.

It's obvious they worked diligently to craft the 11-song LP. hue can brag about having Mike Tompkins (who has also helped Shad K, another London native, on his Juno-winning album The Old Prince) on their production team. With hue, Tompkins guided the band to expand their sound, both in content and instrumentation.

Danny Paton Jr. (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Andrew Schmidt (drums, percussion), Darcy Finck (guitar, piano), Jessica Paton (microKorg, vocals) and Jones (bass) experimented with a few different sounds on the album. Though the first song is a bit slow, the rest of the songs flow well with one another, show thoughtfulness behind the lyrics and a great deal of maturity with the presentation.

The third song, “Try,” sends a strong message about not giving up on your dreams. A fitting theme, considering the band moved from London to Toronto to start a new life: fitting themselves within the eclectic metropolis and performing at popular bands in the big city.

The fourth song, “Time Will Tell,” is particularly strong. This song has a bluegrass melody and the concept of the song is changes to one's mind-which is actually the title of the song.

The final song, “The Bump,” showcases Paton's solid vocals and brings a nice closure to the album.

In terms of constructive criticism, more variation in song melodies would secure the album with other popular indie artists.

hue remarked that they like the sound of Canadian bands The Tragically Hip and the Sam Roberts Band, and artsy English rockers Coldplay. There is a hint of Chris Martin in Paton Jr.'s voice: in later songs on the album, hue relax and sound very comfortable with each other.

Come see hue play a 19-plus show at Call the Office on Friday, July 22 for $7. For more information, check out myspace.com/hueband or facebook.com/hueband.