Occasionally, one encounters an American band that is so British-influenced that the listener assumes the band is from somewhere in the U.K.; You Said Saturday is such a band. If a Brit-pop enthusiast listened to this self-titled release without knowing anything about the group’s history, he/she would likely be wondering what part of England You Said Saturday comes from — are we talking Southern England as in London, or Northern England as in Manchester, Liverpool, or Newcastle? Or perhaps somewhere in Wales? Maybe Cardiff? But no, You Said Saturday is from the San Francisco Bay Area; they are definitely American even though this 32-minute disc is very much in the Brit-pop vein. Their mellow approach to alternative pop/rock owes a lot to Coldplay and Travis as well as the ever-influential Beatles, who have been a major inspiration to England’s Coldplay and Scotland’s Travis (a Glasgow unit with a very British-influenced sound) despite the fact that they broke up many years before either Coldplay or Travis was formed. If one has spent a lot of time savoring Travis’ U.K. smash “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?,” it is very easy to get into “Orbit,” “Safe and Sound,” and other melancholy items on this 2006 release. You Said Saturday aren’t the least bit groundbreaking — actually, they’re quite derivative — but the Northern Californians’ accessible, highly melodic songs are still enjoyable and well crafted. Although not an essential purchase, this decent, if brief, effort is worth hearing if one is heavily into the Coldplay/Travis school of Beatles-minded alternative pop/rock. – Alex Henderson