Sounding like equal parts Muse and the Cure, Love Like Fire represents San Francisco's pop-obsessed shoegazer aesthetic. The guitar-heavy band features accessible midtempo arrangements and plenty of melancholy sentiment. As such, Love Like Fire's second EP, An Ocean in the Air, holds at least three and a half Live 105-ready hits. "Wish You Dead" debuted on the band's MySpace page earlier this year and aimed squarely for the masses with big choruses anchored by singer Ann Yu's twee yet somehow authoritative voice. Yu has a little frame and tiny larynx, but she means it when she insists, "I can't help but wish you dead/ I wish you dead/ Sometimes I wish you dead/ my friend." "I Will" captures the psychic momentum of knowing you're in a hot band. The song builds around the chorus "I'm a star!/ I conquer the world!/ Destroy all my enemies!/ My friends will follow me!/ My friends will follow me!" "Broken Shapes" is Love Like Fire's Coldplay hit, comprising lovelorn lyrics, "ooh-ooh" codas, and violins. Add the anthemic "S.O.S." and An Ocean in the Air is one solid EP; its charm might lie in the fact that Love Like Fire didn't have the time or the money to overthink it.
