Excerpt: “Just in case you missed it, one of the best EPs and hidden gems heard at Your Standard Life in a while, was the release Lakes and Ponds by Vermont’s music collective The Hero Cycle… The band is America’s version of Broken Social Scene (and are that good!). The Hero Cycle is one of those rare bands that has the ability to mesh brilliant instrumentation, artistic lyrics, and great guitar indie pop melodies. The single ‘Breathing In’ was one of the coolest singles of 2007 and the rest of the EP is killer… To The Hero Cycle: please release a full length…cause we love you”

Your Standard Life 

“The Hero Cycle’s Lakes and Ponds EP is a five-song release influenced by the likes of Sonic Youth and Modest Mouse. ‘American Proxy’ and ‘You vs. Them’ are the two strongest tracks. When a band releases an EP they need to make sure that there is no filler because they have only a handful of songs to impress the listener. The Hero Cycle has definitely placed their best material on Lakes and Ponds and this listener is impressed. Also, my indie-rock hating co-workers liked this album and they had little if any complaints about The Hero Cycle’s music.”

Erasing Clouds 

“This is one of the nicer breezes to blow across the Burlington indie-rock scene this year. The tunes on this five-song mini-album have a poppy yet forceful aggression that hooks you from the start. Lakes and Ponds pulls influences out of the 1980s post-punk scene, echoing The Chameleons with the wall of chiming guitars or Sonic Youth with the tangled feedback combed out. It’s a sweet 25-minute drive.”

Burlington Free Press 

Excerpt: “Was all sorts of pumped up for their set after listening to their EP on repeat… The road may have been rough on these guys, but the experience seems to have paid off, because they sounded like veterans. I was expecting some Broken Social Scene groovyness and that’s exactly what I got. From all seven of them. Not since The Most Serene Republic have I encountered a band that has taken cues from BSS so well. The band played every song off of the Lakes and Ponds EP (front runner for EP of the year) and a couple new ones that fit in seamlessly with the old. The dual keys blending together with multi-vocal interplay and some sharp as a pinpoint riffs from the lead kept all in attendance transfixed.”

The Battering Room