Album Review: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

The debut album from Seattle’s Fleet Foxes seemingly came out of nowhere to quickly become one of the more critically acclaimed albums of 2008. While many compare the album to The Beach Boys’ classic Pet Sounds (with its earthy feel, rich harmonies, and consistently great songwriting) simply confining their sound to this is both an injustice and simply inaccurate. Fleet Foxes confidently combine indie folk, Baroque pop, and even elements of Medieval music to create a wholly organic sound that will grow and flourish from your speakers. The band is led by Robin Pecknold who resembles Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway in his unkempt appearance, but more significantly by being completely immersed and in touch with the environment around him (which I’ll explain more later on). Although Fleet Foxes is a five-member band, the other members essentially orbit around Pecknold by backing him instrumentally (guitar, bass guitar, piano, drums, and the occasional mandolin) or vocally (with staggering harmonies).

With this self-titled release, Fleet Foxes have created a stunningly fresh sound for modern music. When we think about past artists that are credited for having pioneered a new sound for rock/pop, the majority did so by skillfully implementing new songwriting techniques, mixing up instrumentation roles, or by using the newest technological advances. Whatever path they took, most of them were intending to capture the sound of that particular era. We have seen this over the past 50 years of rock and continue to see it today. Take for example the Arcade Fire, who over their first two albums have written very anthemic, thunderous songs that can be said to embody the general dissatisfaction with the Bush-era United States. Or take LCD Soundsystem, a musical vehicle that implements electronic instruments alongside guitars and drums to mirror the technologically inundated lives we live. What’s most astonishing about Fleet Foxes is that they are pioneering a new sound for rock not by drawing from today’s world, but rather from a past world. As we listen to these solid, reverb-drenched songs, it’s almost as if we’re listening to an echo that was first generated centuries ago rather than the sound of music being created today.

One of the most remarkable aspects of listening to music in general is its ability to act as an escapist medium. Music has the ability to take us out of our hectic daily lives and into a different, more desirable environment whenever we want to go. As we listen to music, we constantly choose different spaces to inhabit. This space can be familiar or unfamiliar, cheerful or mournful, densely layered or incredibly desolate. More than almost any other album in recent years, Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut makes you feel as if you are being swept away to a new, entirely different environment than the one most of us live in. As we listen to the album, we feel as though we’re following the band through a rural, unpopulated landscape. Throughout the album we find ourselves marveling at a beautiful sunrise (“Sun It Rises”), strolling over a mountain pass (“Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”), and eventually walking by a river valley and rescuing an abandoned baby who floats beside us in a cradle (“Oliver James”).

Moreover, the Fleet Foxes have created a piece of work that invites us in to explore for 40 minutes, in the end leaving us ultimately empowered by its splendor. It’s difficult to predict how successful the Fleet Foxes' next album will be (which is slated for a late 2009 release). However, what is certain is they have already created a career-defining classic, one that will be cherished and revisited by avid music listeners like myself for as long we still want music to help take us away from the mundane and into the marvelous.

Key Tracks:
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood
Oliver James

Final Verdict: 9.6

Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood

Album Review: Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams

Destroyer is a solo project created and embodied by the wildly talented, Vancouver native Dan Bejar. Since 1995, Bejar has used Destroyer as an outlet to carefully craft and refine his mighty and enigmatic songwriting tendencies. Although falling primarily under the genre of independent rock, Destroyer definitely should not be confined to a single sound. His influence stems from an assortment of past, well-grounded musical roots. Listening to Destroyer, one can hear the musical theatricality of Bowie, the cryptic and poignant sonic touches of Pink Floyd, and the stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach of Dylan. While partially borrowing from these musicians, Bejar adds his own signature to the mix. Some may initially be put off by Destroyer’s sound, especially those who find his vocals a bit too whiny or unsettling. However the deft listener will give Bejar time to settle into their bloodstream before casting him aside, and will most likely be rewarded for doing so.

Trouble In Dreams marks the 8th LP release from Destroyer, an album that fans of the band will quickly understand is more of an extension of the form of his last release than a movement towards new territory. In 2006, Bejar moved away from his past psychedelic and wildly over-ambitious sound to create an album that brought him back down to Earth with a more traditional rock band sound. Akin to Dylan’s classic Highway 61 Revisited, Destroyer’s Rubies (my favorite album of 2006) was the sound of a fully-fleshed out band producing rootsy rock that backed the delivery of incredibly literate and thought-provoking lyrics. With Trouble In Dreams, Bejar uses the same formula and often achieves equally successful songs.

This album is essentially a sequel to the aforementioned 2006 release, picking up right where the last left off. Take for example the opening moments of the first track “Blue Flower/Blue Flame”. Bejar begins the album by exhaling the opening line “Okay fine, even the sky looks like wine,” as if he is continuing a thought from earlier on rather than starting a clean slate. Throughout the album, the lyrics continue to puzzle and intrigue us as they always have. In the same vein as some of rock’s past great poets, Bejar has the ability to write incredibly visual and potent lyrics and support them with music that more often than not matches in quality and effectiveness.

One of the biggest draws for me with Destroyer’s sound is the unique role that his guitar serves throughout the tracks. Many of Bejar’s songs use a distorted, super-charged guitar sound that both completes and complements his vocals in a very lyrical fashion. The guitar tears through the mysterious environment that his voice paints and gives us incredible hooks to latch onto, essentially serving as a second voice to steer us through the unfamiliarity of the rest of his sound. Songs like “Dark Leaves Form A Thread” and “My Favourite Year” prove to be good examples of this formula.

While many songs on his newest album could definitely have warranted a spot on his 2006 masterpiece, there is no denying that Trouble in Dreams stumbles in spots. “Shooting Rockets” simply becomes a repetitive bore, while “Plaza Trinidad” is a bit too over the top for its own good. “Libby’s First Sunrise” is a decent but ultimately lackluster closer, ending the album with an ellipses rather than an exclamation point (or even a definitive period). However, more often than not Dan Bejar succeeds in creating a solid follow-up by using the recipe that he concocted with his masterpiece Destroyer’s Rubies. After all, what did we really expect? Sequels are rarely ever as good as their predecessors.

Key Tracks:
Dark Leaves Form A Thread
My Favourite Year
Introducing Angels

Final Verdict: 7.4

Destroyer - Dark Leaves Form A Thread

Album Review: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

The Hold Steady are one of those bands that it seems absurd that more people don’t appreciate now, yet if you know their music you’ll know that 20 years from now twice as many people will be listening to them. The Hold Steady is the creation of singer/songwriter Craig Finn, who at first glance you might expect to see in the cubicle next to you rather than leading one of the most inspired and cathartic bands in existence. While the band owes a lot to past rock powerhouses (in this album explicitly paying tribute to The Clash’s Joe Strummer and Led Zeppelin), the band only uses the teachings of these past greats as a launch pad to take off from. In doing so, they have began an entirely unique juggernaut force of a band, not once stumbling in any of the four albums they’ve released over the last five years.

Their newest album is certainly their most ambitious, and debatably their most successful. Months before the album was released, Finn was reportedly taking voice lessons to help tidy up his often sloppy and slurred vocal approach, a first sign that Finn and Co. were shooting a bit higher this time around. There’s also a noticeable inclusion of new instrumentation in a few of Stay Positive’s songs, including harpsichord on “One For The Cutters”, moog on “Navy Sheets”, and even some Frampton-esque talk box guitar on “Joke About Jamaica”. While furthering their sonic reach, the band is still most effective when sticking to their classic rock band sound, featuring electric guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, and occasional horns, and capturing the spirit of bands as like The Rolling Stones or The E Street Band.

One thing that all Hold Steady fans know is that Craig Finn is a storyteller through and through. He has used his songs over the last three albums to essentially create a universe of youthful characters (better known as Charlemagne, Hallelujah, and Gideon) that interact with each other and all live for one single thing, rock and roll. Of course, there’s plenty of baggage that comes with being a die hard rock fan, ranging from sex, drugs, and alcohol, to love, lust, and often enlightenment. Stay Positive adheres to this lyrical subject material, yet throws a fascinating curve ball into the mix. Throughout the 11 tracks, there is a recurring narrative motif that alludes to the ambiguous murder of two teenage boys which binds the songs together and grounds the euphoria that these characters live for by the weight of life, death, and reality. While more and more details are revealed of the murders through the songs, we are never truly sure as to what has exactly occurred.

And so, while the stories Finn tells of these rock-propelled individuals are often ambiguous, the band reinforces clarity with incredibly powerful and inherently inspiring music. Stay Positive easily has some of the most melodic songs Finn has ever composed. While “Sequestered In Memphis” dictates the hazy details coming from someone in an interrogation regarding the murders, the song's hookiness overpowers the uncertainty with an empowering chorus that's nearly impossible not to embrace and sing along to. “Lord, I’m Discouraged” is the most effective track, standing as the true centerpiece of the album and one of the crowning achievements of the band’s career. The song is told from the point of view of a man torn apart by the disheveled state that he now finds the girl he loves in. As he looks to religion for some sort of guidance, he explains how after spending time with new friends she is continually distancing herself and only coming back with sunken eyes and noticeable sutures and bruises. Around the 3-minute mark, (underrated) guitarist Tad Kubler tears the entire song in half with an unspeakably amazing guitar solo, creating a trememdous example of music's ability to be used as catharsis. It is the single most empowering 45 seconds of music that you’ll hear this year.

And so with their fourth album, The Hold Steady once again legitimize themselves as an incredibly consistent and commanding rock outfit. When I think of how to put their greatness into words, I am reminded of a Jack Kerouac quote from his classic novel On The Road (from which the band derives the title for its third LP Boys and Girls In America). In a passage at the beginning of the novel, the narrator talks about the type of people that interest him, describing them as “the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’”. And so, with Stay Positive, The Hold Steady continues to dazzle and amaze, continuing to hold their status as one of the most invigorating and visceral bands around today.

Key Tracks:
Sequestered In Memphis
Lord, I’m Discouraged
Yeah Sapphire

Final Verdict: 9.4

The Hold Steady - Lord, I'm Discouraged

Album Review: The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed

In 2002, Mike Skinner under the name “The Streets” emerged with a confident strut from the depths of a London garage and released one of the most brilliant debut albums of the last ten years, titled Original Pirate Material. His sound was loosely derived from the emerging British 2-step style and garage rap genre, complemented by his signature white boy rap vocals filled with hilarious banter, biting social commentary, and occasional heartache. It was an invigorating and exciting release, one that took England by storm, but unfortunately hardly made an impact in the states. His second release A Grand Don’t Come For Free was equally impressive, which essentially plays out as a continuous narrative from start to finish of a hedonistic (yet sentimental) girl-chasing, 20-something Londoner in search of a missing 1,000 quid. The album solidified his status as one of the most important and innovative artists of the young century.

In the accordance with this newfound rise into celebrity, Skinner released a third LP titled The Hardest Way to Make a Living, which unfortunately brought his hot streak to an abrupt halt. With songs about the misfortunes of fame backed by uninspired beats and melodies, the album was more of a chore to listen through than anything. This brings us to his fourth and most release LP release Everything Is Borrowed, which is as much of a departure from his past efforts that we could ever have expected.

After the first pass through Everything is Borrowed it seems as if Skinner has set down his pint of beer and exchanged it for a book on philosophy. Rather than explain the trials and tribulations that take place on the cruel streets he inhabits, he has lifted himself hundreds of thousands of miles away from the earth, enabling him to broaden his scope and evaluate his existence on a universal stage. Take for example the opening track "Everything Is Borrowed", from which the album gets its title. The song boasts along on a triumphant horn loop and firm, steady beat while Skinner and backing vocalists sweetly sing:

“I came to this world with nothing,
And I leave with nothing but love,
Everything else is just borrowed.”

Many songs are equally bursting with life and energy, leading us to believe that Skinner’s overall outlook on life is positive. “On The Edge Of A Cliff” further validates this assumption, which is a fantastic track that truly shows off Skinner’s gift for vocal and lyrical phrasing. Within three quick minutes, he packs in a tale about a man who is pulled away from suicide by a mysterious, philosophical bystander. The man validates the protagonist’s existence by explaining to him that we were all brought to this world as a result of a marvelous chain reaction of serendipitous ancestry and heritage. Other songs examine big issues that were nowhere to be seen in the matters that Skinner formerly rapped about. Who would have guessed that the beer-toting, club-hopping Londoner from a few years ago would now be rapping about life and death, human sustainability on earth, and the misleading nature of the Bible?

Although Everything Is Borrowed is more successful than not, there are a handful of tracks that are unquestionable filler material. “I Love You More (Than You Like Me)”, “Never Give In”, and “The Way of the Dodo” are all flops, weakly carried by poor melodies or simply annoying and boring lyrics. One of the most cherished parts about The Streets’ first two albums was how incredibly consistent they were, without a single lacking song from beginning to end (at least in my opinion). However, Everything is Borrowed is certainly an improvement over his last release. Skinner’s decision to take his lyrical content and sound into a new direction is an admirable move. While the album is nowhere near the caliber of his initial output, there’s a wealth of contagious inspiration and optimism here, which is more than enough reason to give it a listen. After all, isn’t that what life's all about?

Key Tracks:
Everything Is Borrowed
On The Edge Of A Cliff
The Escapist

Final Verdict: 7.5

The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed

Album Review: The Dodos - Visiter

The Dodos' debut LP begins with one of the most instantly hooky and likable opening tracks of the year. "Walking" struts along to a steady beat, guided by light banjo-plucking and effectively harmless vocals, perfectly easing the listener into an album that will soon lead them into very unfamiliar and often salient territory. Avoiding a fade of any sort, "Walking" rolls right into "Red and Purple", the first track to actually begin to reveal the band's full M.O.

Dodos is an experimental pop duo that hails from San Francisco, sparked in 2006 by the uniting of musical forces between two innovative, out-of-the-box talents. While singer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Meric Long lends his boyish vocals and country-blues fingerpicking and rhythmic acoustic strumming, drummer Logan Kroeber equally contributes to the sound with an endless library of experimental, syncopated rhythms. Culminating these two very unique musicians' play styles generates a formula that is wildly creative. Although it may be foreign to some, it's ultimately grounded on great pop hooks that lend to its accessibility.

Visiter catapults the listener into the unknown, delivering a sound that shifts between familiar and unfamiliar, native and exotic, creating a constantly invigorating bipolar approach. As we delve further into the heart of a given song, we soon realize that things aren't quite as we anticipated them to play out. The basic song structure (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc.) is often discarded. The timbre of the instruments and vocals jump back and forth from clean to canny, gentle to harsh. The overall tone of a song can unexpectedly switch from subdued to threatening (e.g. "Joe's Waltz"). This idea of "expect the unexpected" is what makes The Dodos such a thrilling listen. One of the triumphs of the album is how, despite its wild and chaotic nature, it is still very approachable for the average listener. At face value the album is immediately welcoming, with its innocent child-drawn cover artwork and cutely misspelled album title.

The Dodos are an incredibly promising new band who, despite a few missteps, successfully pull off the much sought after feat nowadays of creating something completely original, exciting, and stunning. The band manifests a fully fleshed out sound despite only having two members. Visiter is an album that certainly takes time to adjust to and accept. It took me about five or six complete listens to fully become accustomed to the sound. However, I've actually found that my favorite albums of all time are those that I hated at first just because they were so foreign. In my opinion, this is what being a good music listener is all about, forcing yourself to give new material a chance despite how different it might sound from everything else you've ever heard. This is certainly the case for The Dodos, a band that doesn't look like it's going to be extinct anytime soon.

Key Tracks:
Walking
Fools
Ashley

Final Verdict: 8.7

The Dodos - Walking

Album Review: Sun Kil Moon - April

Mark Kozelek is the sole heart and mind behind Sun Kil Moon, which is essentially a continuation of the formula from his last band, the critically acclaimed Red House Painters of the 90s. Throughout Kozelek's career, he has been known to use his songs to paint lush portraits of sorrow and yearning onto a canvas with intimate acoustic ballads that feature his tender, sheltered vocals. While his songs are often mournful, Kozelek usually sheds just enough light onto the darkness to keep us mesmerized rather than distanced. His guitar playing can be simply stunning, as is the case when he delicately plucks and strums with a level of beauty that often stops us in our tracks. The most intriguing aspect of his music is its ability to unravel and reveal itself more and more with each successive listen. While at first many listeners may just hear his songs as being settled and repetitive affairs, more listens reveal how the songs will shift to and fro to expose the innate complexity of the human heart as expressed through music.

I was first exposed to Sun Kil Moon after a spontaneous purchase of Ghosts of the Great Highway at my college’s radio station CD sale. This 50 cent purchase turned out to be one of the best steals I’ve ever been able to pull off. Ghost of the Great Highway is Kozelek's first release under the moniker Sun Kil Moon and marked an undeniable (and sadly overlooked) achievement in 21st century songwriting. While his songwriting was often somber, it never seemed to push the listener away. Rather it drew the curious listener in even further by integrating occasional glimpses of hope and enlightenment. At times on the album, Kozelek also effectively plugged in his guitar to achieve a heightened sense of inner revelation and invigoration through thunderous solos (as heard in the brilliant, Yo La Tengo-esque “Salvador Sanchez”). The album presented Kozelek as a cryptic figure, but one that we could learn more about with repeated listens, as well as one that we actually wanted to make an effort to learn more about.

This marks the main difference between Ghosts and his follow-up April, which arrives five years after his last. While songs on Ghosts often drifted lazily along to a fairly repetitive song structure, they were much more efficient and had just enough subtle deviation to keep us intrigued. April never achieves the lofty heights of his first release, and simply settles into a dreary space that rarely escapes its own dark tone. While the songwriting can be similarly beautiful to Ghosts, the songs themselves are far too repetitive to maintain interest. When listening to a song on the album, there are many instances when we think that Kozelek has gotten as much as he can out of a melody, only to find that he will continue playing it for another three, four, or five minutes. Listening to April reminds me of looking at something beautiful and cyclic in nature. While at first you can’t pull yourself away from studying it and taking in its splendor, after several minutes have passed and you’re still just watching the same thing it can actually take away from the beauty and becomes incredibly boring.

However, there are definitely some tracks that deserve recognition. The opening track “Lost Verses” ranks among one of the more amazing pieces that Kozelek has ever composed. Despite exceeding the 9 minute mark, it maintains its intrigue through a deviating song structure and a stunningly beautiful chorus, featuring backing vocals from Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard. “Unlit Hallway” is also a highlight, which also recruits the help of backing vocals, this time from Bonnie Price Billy's Will Oldman. However, on the whole April is a long-winded affair that favors floating, repetitious songs over the more concise and directional approach that Kozelek took on his previous release. To listen to it from beginning to end requires a huge amount of patience, which makes it much better in small doses or as relaxing background music. I feel like this is the type of album that I will pick up and listen to 10 years from now and completely fall in love with. But for the time being it just doesn’t strike a chord with me like his masterful 2003 release was able to. Take my advice and hold off on this one until you’ve gotten your hands on Ghosts of the Great Highway. If you’re still itching for more Sun Kil Moon, maybe this one will satisfy your thirst more than it did for me.

Key Tracks:
Lost Verses
Unlit Hallway
Harper Road

Final Verdict: 6.5

Sun Kil Moon - Lost Verses

Album Review: Randy Newman - Harps and Angels

Most people my age probably know Randy Newman best for his unforgettable songs from the film Toy Story (or maybe during the brutal representation of him in the Y2K episode of Family Guy). I was once in the same boat as well, that is until I gave a listen to his albums Sail Away and 12 Songs from the beginning of his career in the early '70s, now both commonly considered to be classics in modern singer songwriting history. At surface level, these albums are simply collections of New Orleans-based rhythm and blues delivered through Newman’s trademark, sloppy vocals and lighthearted piano playing. The songs on these albums were often light-hearted affairs, including a range of fantastic characters including the Yellow Man and Simon Smith, who was accompanied by his amazing dancing bear.

However, what Newman is most admired for is his ability to subtly mix in bitingly satirical commentary into much of his seemingly innocent material. For example, while the happy-go-lucky “Political Science” at first glance seems like a bouncy, jovial tune, we soon realize that he uses the song to essentially petition the dropping of atomic bombs on various areas of the world (but don’t worry, he doesn't want to hurt the kangaroos in Australia). It is this undercurrent of cynicism and comical attacks on society that set Newman apart from many of his contemporaries.

Now, over 35 years have passed since Sail Away and Newman has released an album just as bewildering and fantastic as anything he’s ever put out. Harps and Angels brings back all of the elements that made his past classics so cherished and more. First of all I have to mention how stunningly similar voice sounds at 64 compared to when he was 28. While he has always had a distinctive, more elderly sounding voice than appropriate for his age, it has never seemed more appropriate than now. The sincerity of his voice and the frailty that older age brings gives even more weight to ballads like “Losing You” and “Feels Like Home”.

There's also a whole grab-bag of wild, lively songs that are just, plain fun to sit back and enjoy. While “Laugh and Be Happy” sounds like it came straight out of a classic Disney movie (think bluebirds chirping, singing sunflowers, and rolling green hills), there are also fascinating stream-of-consciousness tracks that sound like a rambling Abe Simpson that we actually want to keep listening to. “A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country” is a hilarious rebuttal towards people all over the world that constantly accuse America’s horrific leadership under Bush by citing even worse terrors invoked by other political leaders of the past (Hitler, Stalin, etc.).

While Newman is adhering closely to his past success formula, Harps and Angels is even richer than past efforts in terms of instrumentation and backing vocals. Songs like “A Piece of the Pie” and “Korean Parents” exemplify this best, with a whole range of fascinating sonic flourishes popping up and decorating the space around Randy's piano. Instrumentation varying from blaring horns to light woodwinds to accompanying strings, creating a lush and often intriguing atmosphere of sound.

With Harps and Angels, Newman has not just added a cherry to the top of a legendary and influential career, but rather added substantially to the base of his portfolio, creating an even more firmly standing body of work. There truly is not a single bad song on this album, however this isn’t necessarily saying that it’s a perfect album either (as some songs could have been a bit less long-winded). Nonetheless it's an album that, once you've adapted to his style, can become a wonder to listen to from beginning to end. Now at age 64 (with his 65th birthday arriving at the end of the month), we cannot help but predict that this may be one of the final efforts of Newman's lengthy career, and what better way to end a long, wonderful musical journey than with a group of compositions that is both touching and hilarious, both cynical and hopeful, and alternates from wildly eclectic and beautifully bare with startling results.

Key Tracks:
Harps and Angels
Laugh And Be Happy
Feels Like Home

Final Verdict: 9.1

Randy Newman - Laugh and Be Happy

Album Review: The Black Keys - Attack & Release

In a time when there are only really a couple of well-known blues-rock duos around, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between The Black Keys to The White Stripes. Both bands emerged at the beginning of the decade with minimalist mentalities, understanding that the blues was based on the bare essentials of a guitar and the weeping of a man’s heart conveyed through his vocals. In recent efforts, both bands have begun to evolve their sound as their careers have progressed, although in slightly different ways. While Jack White has steered his ship towards edgier, more frenetic rock innovation, the two boys from Akron, Ohio have tried to elevate their down-to-earth, back-to-basics blues approach to loftier, more atmospheric heights.

With Attack & Release, the Black Keys have enlisted Danger Mouse to produce, picking what would seem to be the perfect man to bring their sound to a daring, new place. Danger Mouse has been popping up all over 2008, including his second LP collaboration with Cee-Lo on their band Gnarls Barkley’s The Odd Couple, as well as producing Beck’s stripped down, crunchy and sometimes brilliant Modern Guilt. Listening through the album, we certainly hear his crafty presence as he struts his stuff with sonic manipulation and instrumentation flourishes. The haunting backing “oohs” on songs like “Psychotic Girl” and “Strange Times” remind us of the desolate soundscapes that he helped create on Gorillaz’ 2005 hit Demon Days. However, his presence is only really noticeable on a handful of tracks, as he seems to be keeping his hands away from the mixing board more often than not.

The album unfolds with the lazy, rolling blues of “All You Ever Wanted” which immediately showcases Dan Auerbach’s strong and soulful voice. The song carries along in a dreary fashion until the last 45 seconds when a tidal wave of organs, electric guitar, and drums come crashing in. The band chugs away throughout the album, alternating between hard-hitting songs led by heavy, fairly straight-forward riffs to slower, soul-soaked blues (see album title for a more concise articulation of this pattern). Auerbach and Patrick Carney (on drums) both sound very tight. However, at times the production seems almost too polished, which actually becomes one of the major faults of the album for me. One of the most treasured parts of The Black Keys’ sound (as also credited to The White Stripes) was their low-fi, raw sound that fittingly matched the stripped down blues they were so respectfully honoring. However, Danger Mouse seems to have cut out the fuzz, revealing the band in stark clarity.

One of the more interesting choices on the album is the pair of tracks in the middle respectively called “Remember When (Side A)” and “Remember When (Side B)”. The first is an atypically trippy blues song that almost floats through a mystic, desolate, percussion-less setting. “Remember When (Side B) is actually just another take on the same song, this time decorated by Auerbach’s most violent wails on the guitar and Carney’s most relentless percussion to appear on the entire album. One can easily see this pairing of songs as a microcosm for the general, two-sided nature of the album, which essentially takes the form of a balancing act between their typical blues rock tendencies and the more otherworldly direction Danger Mouse has taken them in.

There are certainly times when the collaboration with Danger Mouse works wonders. The best pick of the litter is “Same Old Thing”, where Auerbach once again leads with his crooning vocals, while Carney backs with a steady beat, and Danger Mouse crafts his production around a piping flute loop and intermittent, weighty chants that drop with the beat. I also have to mention the most dazzling exhibition of Auerbach’s vocals, which appears on “Oceans & Streams”, with precisely wavering vocals that are simply stunning and which remind us of one of the strongest elements of the band’s success.

The direction that the band has taken on this album can best be summed up by the title of the closing track, “Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be”. It’s obvious that The Black Keys have deviated from their past, minimalist blues rock roots with much more refined production values. Since their 2004 release Rubber Factory, the band has noticeably tried to elevate their sound into a more atmospheric realm, which Danger Mouse seems like the most obvious producer pick for. But in doing so they’ve begun to lose some of their identity as one of the best primitive blues rock bands around today. The album is certainly not a failure, exhibiting some of the strongest songwriting of the band’s career. However it all seems a bit lackluster and misguided in the end, often pushing the listener around a bit but never really grabbing and taking hold of them.

Key Tracks:
Remember When (Side B)
Same Old Thing
Oceans & Streams

Final Verdict: 7.1

The Black Keys - Same Old Thing

Album Review: My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

With each successive release, it's easy to see that Jim James and crew are working to expand the reach of the band's sound more and more. The move from 2003's It Still Moves to 2005's stellar Z marked a shift from their traditional, reverb-entrenched Southern rock psychedelia to a more tightly written yet experimental and otherworldly sonic landscape. This year, My Morning Jacket expanded the range of their musical radar even further with their incredibly eclectic and ambitious fifth album Evil Urges.

The album is essentially a template of various musical genres that have crept into rock occasionally over the last 50 years but have rarely ever been grouped together on one album like they have been here. It's certainly an admirable feat, as not many other bands around today would dare to throw themselves into as many different pools as Jim James dives into here. While the Southern rock spirit still exists in their music ("I'm Amazed"), there are also flavors of arena rock ("Aluminum Park"), country ("Sec Walkin'"), 50s pop ("Two Halves"), folk ballads ("Librarian") and even psychedelic funk ("Evil Urges") mixed in.

The good news is that the band certainly succeeds much more than it fails, at times even reaching the exceptional heights of songcraft that Z so majestically achieved. The opening, title track "Evil Urges" is a bouncy and entrancing foray into funk, featuring James' unexpected Prince-like falsetto backed by layers of swirling guitar, piano, and driving percussion. It's easy to become completely immersed in the beauty of "Look at You", led by entrancing slide guitars and James’ fantastic vocals that sway back and forth between powerful confidence and haunting fragility.

And of course, I can't forget to mention the triumphant one-two knock-out punch that the finale delivers. The second to last track "Smokin' from Shootin'" is a tremendously listenable and gripping piece. During the first two-thirds of the song, James questions the mysteries of life and expresses the difficulty of searching for something we don't even know exists. The final third of the song builds to a booming climax that has James bellowing out his angst with no strings attached. The song concludes and we slide into the album closer "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Part 2" as we hear a sucking sound as if we're being pulled into a vacuum where nothing else exists but the staccato keyboards that begin to creep their way in. As the song continues, more layers begin appearing in this desolate, Pink Floydian space including a drum machine, James' vocals, and eventually the swelling backing vocals and synthesizers. By its end, the song is lifted to astronomical and almost spiritual heights, only to fade away layer by layer just as it came in.

While the album certainly attains levels of brilliance, there are also points where it fails miserably. With Evil Urges, James is trying to juggle too many genres at once and simply can't keep them all in the air at the same time. Probably the most mind-boggling, "what-were-you-thinking" song of MMJ's career appears on track three with the awful "Highly Suspicious". In trying to be an edgy, sexually-driven funk song, James' sinister laughing just ends up being the tipping point for the huge mess that it is. There's also the lackluster "Remnants", which pops up immediately after the album's only other rocker "Aluminum Park" and is nothing more than a shadow of it, swallowing itself up with failed hooks and unexciting songwriting. This actually brings to light another disappointment of the album, its very odd and poorly chosen track order. Whether it's James saying in an interview that the second half of the album starts after the first three tracks or the unnecssary 6-second closer "Good Intentions", the album suffers from what I like to call "iPod Shuffle Syndrome".

What made their previous effort Z so exceptional (enough to make it to the top ten of my Top 100 Albums list, see earlier posting) was that it not only took the band to a new and exciting place, but also the creation of music that was consistently well-written and effective in that new place. Between It Still Moves and Z, the band essentially looked down a new, foreign road and decided to take a direct and focused journey down it. With Evil Urges, rather than boldly traveling down a new road, they seem to be standing at an intersection of a dozen roads, spinning around in circles and spreading themselves too thin trying to cover all of the new, diverse terrain. I do have to give Jim James credit for once again pushing the limits of his band. Also, his ability shown here to adapt his vocals to the different genres that each song inhabits is beyond impressive, putting him in an elite group of modern rock vocalists. But personally I hope that with their next release they decide to take the road less traveled rather than the roads that have already been thoroughly traveled by both innovators and followers over the past 50 years.

Key Tracks:
Evil Urges
Sec Walkin'
Look At You

Final Verdict: 7.8

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

Album Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

R.E.M. comes out bold and blazing from the opening seconds of Accelerate, immediately wiping their slate clean that has been dirtied over years from a series of lackluster releases. For over a decade, the band considered as one of the pioneering forces for the entire alternative rock movement has struggled to come anywhere close to the past heights they achieved in the 80s and early 90s. What’s immediately obvious about their newest release is the band’s decision to essentially strip its sound down to the bare essentials, shedding overly-produced songs in favor of more direct and trajectory rock.

The band hails back to its glory days with the return of many elements that made them so universally lauded by the music community years ago. Their raw songwriting here harks back to their Do-It-Yourself persona established at the beginning of their career 25+ years ago. In addition, Michael Stipe’s vocals are just as poignant and effective as they ever were. Thankfully, Peter Buck’s guitars are back in full force as well, transitioning from driving riffs to the more wailing, distorted attacks in songs like “Man Sized Wreath” and “Mr. Richards”.

There are only a couple of missteps that hold this effort back from joining the ranks of their past classics (notably 1983’s Murmur and 1992’s Automatic for the People). “Accelerate”, the track that shares the album’s title, chugs along to an uninteresting melody, ultimately nothing more than filler in an album whose lean nature only works if all of the fat is shaved off. The closing track of the album “I’m Gonna DJ” also disappoints. What should be a chance to make a lasting, final statement for an album that says so much is instead replaced by a frivolous track that whizzes by the listener and never offers to pick them up along the way.

So in the spirit of the album, I’ll wrap things up quickly. Accelerate is certainly an accomplishment for a band that was as near extinction as any band can be. They have smartly returned to the winning formula that worked so well for them in their prime; mixing lyrics that are simultaneously cryptic and relatable, sound that is both modern and traditional, and a spirit that is equally fiery and tender. In the end, Accelerate is a bit too fleeting and underdeveloped, as if R.E.M. is serving us only a small sample of their recipe rather than the full, three-course meal that we want. But hey, a taste is better than nothing at all, right?

Key Tracks:
Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Supernatural Superserious
Until The Day Is Done

Final Verdict: 8.3

R.E.M. - Living Well Is The Best Revenge

Album Review: Beck - Modern Guilt

Beck emerged from the 90’s alternative rock scene as the prodigy of postmodern eclecticism. After his first two releases, Beck was quickly deemed the poster-boy for creating intelligent, genre-blending music that became something ultimately original and profound. Throughout the years, he has essentially played hop scotch with a range of styles, jumping around and mixing genres like pop, psychedelia, jazz, folk, blues, funk, and experimental rock to create a kaleidoscope of incredible music. And so Modern Guilt marks the 9th LP release from one of this generation’s most prolific and versatile singer/songwriters.

This time around Beck has chosen to mash minds with producer Danger Mouse who, after the brilliant production exhibited on the first LP from his band Gnarls Barkley, seems to be the new go-to-guy for smart musicians looking for producer that could add a little kick to their sound (e.g. The Black Keys, Gorillaz). Danger Mouse’s touch to this album is definitely noticeable, from his wiry, descending strings on “Walls” to his canny drum machine mixed with light, ethereal piano flourishes on “Replica”.

Nevertheless, we know that Beck is the real mind behind the project. After his last two affairs (2005’s Guero and 2006’s The Information), it’s immediately apparent that Beck has chosen to head down the darker road this time around, harking back to the somber tone of his much-lauded and introspective Sea Change (2002). However, rather than personalize his unrest, he’s instead expanded this sense of dread onto the world spectrum. Whether it’s references to icecaps melting, people drowning, or walls falling down on us, there's constant feeling of entrapment and crisis that permeates throughout the entire album.

While we listen to Beck on this album, the image of Charlie Chaplin passing through the machine gears in the classic film Modern Times comes to mind. He seems to be caught up in a giant, brooding machine with no escape. Songs like "Youthless” and “Soul of a Man” exhibit this best, during which Beck’s somber vocals are surrounded by swelling and pulsating technological sounds that almost overtake him. Again much to the credit of Danger Mouse’s production, songs often sound very crunchy and calculated with a collage of backing sounds that constantly interject and threaten Beck’s defeated vocal sound.

Ultimately, Beck has created a sophisticated album that attempts to capture the dread and despair that many Americans feel today with so many pressures (both global and local) falling down on us. So in capturing this sense of despair Beck succeeds. However, the album lacks the hook and draw that we so often find in his previous efforts. Part of this is because, as the listener, we always feel a sense of distance from the music. It feels as if we’re always a block or two away from the dark, murky alley from which the music is being played. The inherent likeability of his past efforts stemmed from his formula of incredibly original sound that was simultaneously gripping and addictive. As a result we were drawn in to the music rather than distanced from it.

Don’t get me wrong, Modern Guilt has some very strong tracks debatably some of the best of his career (“Chemtrails”, “Profanity Prayers”). However, it also has its fair share of songs that struggle to flourish to their full potential, leaving us flat-footed and admiring rather than moved and inspired. Perhaps this is what Beck was going for, an album that wishes to encapsulate the stand-still world many of us feel we live in. But as far as music-listening goes, it’s much more of a struggle to come back to Modern Guilt for a second or third listen compared our desire to return to albums like Odelay or Midnite Vultures. Hopefully next time around Beck will feel that the times they are a’changin’ and get back to his swinging, exciting, and bombastic roots.

Key Tracks:
Gamma Ray
Chemtrails
Profanity Prayers

Final Verdict: 7.2

Beck - Gamma Ray

Album Review: TV on the Radio - Dear Science

As the saying goes, third time’s a charm. Dear Science is a tremendous third effort by one of the most innovative and mesmerizing bands to emerge this decade. After the near universal acclaim for their second album, 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain, it seemed hard to fathom that they would be able to outdo themselves once again. On their third album it seems like they’ve done just that. Their decision to shift into slightly more inviting sonic territory and their use of more instantly gratifying tunes has served them extremely well. They have not necessarily sacrificed their experimental nature for more accessible songcraft, but rather interlaced it more heavily with songs that for the first time in their career seem to come more from their hearts than their heads.

Brooklyn’s TV on the Radio are a product of a number of factors, some explainable and others not. Just listening to this album, there is undeniable influence stemming from such former legends as David Bowie and Prince. We are reminded of Bowie’s progressive, cutting edge sound from his classic LP Low on tracks like “Stork and Owl”, while on tracks like “Golden Age” and “Lover’s Day” there are moments of Prince’s sex-infused sound topped by towering falsettos. While these two artists certainly lent some colors to the band’s music palette, it is the band itself that has developed a sound that is both totally originally and incredibly powerful. Their post-expressionistic mentality has encouraged them to tap into a number of different of genres (post-rock, jazz, rap, classical, funk, electronic, ska) and somehow culminate them into an entirely fascinating and new sound.

On Dear Science, TVOTR is especially effective for their ability to manifest the spirit of the times in which we currently live in, accurately capturing a sense of uncertainty in one of the most uncertain times in American history. In opening track “Halfway Home”, the track begins with Adebimpe’s subdued and level-headed vocals pushing through persistent synths, attacking hand claps, and a persistent percussive beat. However, when he reaches the chorus his rise to a vulnerable falsetto feels like he’s regrettably giving in to the pressures that surround him.

The remainder of the album follows the pattern of the opening track, constantly switching back and forth between a sense of persistence to one of surrender. Whether its blaring horns (“Dancing Choose”), dark undertones of synths (“DLZ”), or abrasive rhthyms, there is always a sense of lingering danger in the world that TV on the Radio manifests. However, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone continue to boldly push through the darkness in hopes of reaching the light that we all know is at the end of the tunnel.

The combination of the last two tracks signifies this most effectively. “DLZ” is the second to last track, entrenching us in a world filled with fear and paranoia with thundering bass beats and cryptically lulling female vocals. Adebimpe’s vocals sound as if he is cautiously stepping through this terrifying atmosphere, only to crack under the pressure with his haunting and cathartic cry “This is beginning to feel like the dawn of the loser forever…”. Thus leading into the closer “Lover’s Day”, which becomes a curiously comforting signification of hope for the near future. While the subject matter is actually very sexual (another ode to Prince), the sound of the music is both enchanting and incredibly optimistic. After 10 tracks of uncertainty, “Lover’s Day” elevates us up to the top of the mountain, finally allowing us to see the joyous possibility that our future holds.

Moments like this are what make billions of people choose to turn to music as an accessible guide for understanding the incredibly complex world we live in. While thousands of news outlets may inform us on what's going on in the world (as exemplified by the character in “Dancing Choose”), music can often capture the world around us better than anything else. As the great Aldous Huxley once wrote, “after silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”

Key Tracks:
Halfway Home
Golden Age
Lover's Day

Final Verdict: 9.6

TV on the Radio - Golden Age

Album Review: Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Death Cab for Cutie is often cited as one of the greatest indie rock success stories of the last decade, and rightfully so. The seeds of buzz were planted with an eight song cassette in 1997 titled Songs You Can Play With Chords, sprouting more in the early '00s among the indie community (sadly due to their appearances from Fox's The OC), and finally blooming in 2003 with their critically acclaimed Transatlanticism. With Narrow Stairs, "the little band that could" debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and is now playing at venues as large and populated as any other big name band venues. Luckily, with the ever-increasingly lures of becoming more mainstream, their creativity hasn't waned. 2008's Narrow Stairs serves as sufficient proof for this.

Narrow Stairs' opener "Bixby Canyon Bridge" immediately showcases one of the biggest reasons for the band's success; Ben Gibbard's pure and harmless vocals. They serve as a big fat hook those who are just trying to get a taste of the growing pot of indie rock stew but have been deterred by some of its alternative flavors. However, please don't be mistaken. Not all of the band's content is laced with flowers and sunshine, especially with this most recent release. While Gibbard's vocals seem innocuous, they often exhibit very dark and somber undertones, making the band well worth exploring.

Take for example the second track of the album "I Will Possess Your Heart". After the both atypical and entrancing four-minute jam introduction, the lyrics unfold and it quickly becomes one of the few stalker songs that you'll ever actually enjoy listening to. The dark nature continues throughout the LP. However, we continue to listen because the content it juxtaposed with often uplifting and inspiring songcraft. Not surprisingly, the album follows the band's tendency of concluding with a barebones and heartfelt ballad. "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" is a beautiful closing track, reminiscent of the touching nature of previous closers "Stable Song" and "A Lack of Color" from their two previous albums.

After a few listens, one quickly realizes that Narrow Stairs is filled with some of the most personal material that Gibbard has ever written (which he has admitted in recent interviews). Of course, just because of this we shouldn't pretend that it is HIS album. The entire band plays into the album's sound. Producer/guitarist Chris Walla also lends a good deal to the sound, jumping back and forth between solitary soundscapes to more lush and textured arrangements.

The album succeeds for the most part in creating a continually engaging listen, with Gibbard often serving as a fragile but persistent guiding light to take us through the album's darkness. Despite a few skipable duds (e.g. "Talking Bird", "Grapevine Fires") that hold the album back from attaining it's album-of-the-year candidacy, it still features some of the best songs that the band has ever assembled ("Your New Twin Sized Bed", "Pity and Fear"). Over 10 years into their lifespan and Death Cab for Cutie can still manage to deliver an impressive album to add to their catalogue. While compared a few years ago, the ice that they stand on may have gotten slightly thinner, they're certainly still not falling through any time some.

Key Tracks:
No Sunlight
Your New Twin Sized Bed
Pity and Fear

Final Verdict: 8.0

Album Review: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Hearing Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago for the first time was a both a strange and unique experience for me, and one that I've rarely ever encountered before. The sensation was similar to submerging oneself into a frozen lake, but instead of rushing back to the surface choosing rather to embrace the cold and become fully absorbed in it. It's a sound that hits you with a sharp chill and slowly unfolds into something that is pure, organic, haunting, and emotionally moving.

Before I get too carried away, let me just back up a few steps. So Bon Iver is actually the singular creation of Justin Vernon, a Wisconsin native who was (up until this album) struggling to find the true sound that he had always been looking to create. So pre-Bon Iver, there was the unfulfilled Justin Vernon, member of the North Carolianian indie folk band DeYarmond Edison. When his desire to attain the creative flexibility that he so desperately needed finally broke through, he decided to pack up his bags, dump his girlfriend, and make his way back to his Wisconsinian roots.

Once back, he moved to the solitude of his father's hunting cabin in the woods, all alone and intending simply to relax and re-establish some peace of mind. But as soon as he started to pick up his guitar, a multitude of uncontainable ideas began to flourish, ones that wouldn't be interrupted by anything but his own sleep schedule. And so, Bon Iver (a mispelling of the French "bonne hiver" meaning "good winter") came into being, emerging from the woods three months later with his arms full of tremendous material.

Bon Iver can easily be compared to other heartfelt and reclusive artists like Iron & Wine's Sam Bean or the late, great Nick Drake. However, to limit him to this would just be wrong. Vernon shares similarities with a smorgasbord of musical talents, with vocals achieving the emotionality of Marvin Gaye, the raw troubadour passion of a Glen Hansaard, and the wild creativity matching the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel or more recently Animal Collective.

The album is filled with hypnotic acoustic compositions that swagger and sway mostly due to Vernon's amazing voice. The opener "Flume" is captivating for it's simultaneous delicacy and incredible power. Vernon's falsetto flutters through the entire album, only dipping occasionally into lower registers. However, when it does drop to a lower register, his songs achieve an atypical, climactic ability. This is no more apparent than on the gripping "Skinny Love", the kind of song that Ben Harper always aspired to write but never quite achieved.

In his debut, Justin Vernon/Bon Iver has created a piece of work that will certainly stand the test of time and most likely achieve the same timeless status of other wildly influential singer/songwriter landmarks such as Astral Weeks or Pink Moon. After a quick 37 minutes it comes and goes far too quickly, bringing to mind some of the most sadly ephemeral natural occurances like the Northern Lights or a full moon. Luckily for us we can simply press "Play" again and start the whole cycle over again as many times as we like.

Key Tracks:
Skinny Love
For Emma
Re: Stacks

Final Verdict: 9.8

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

Album Review: The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

With Consolers of the Lonely, Jack White and his accomplices take another stab at making the rock-God-status-achieving album that they were hoping for with their first LP Broken Boy Soldiers two years earlier. However, as much as Jack White ("Jack White III" being his new, hopefully temporary moniker) wants people to think that the Raconteurs aren't just a "side project" for him, it's hard not to think of it as anything but this. Despite this second effort being much more musically and conceptually ambitious than their first, it still pales in comparison to anything the White Stripes have put out.

After the first few tracks, it becomes immediately obvious that White and Brendan Benson (who alternate both songwriting and vocal credits) are reaching for something much more hard-hitting than their mostly wimpy debut. The album definitely kicks with an engaging start, opening with a pair of great, raw rock diddies. While the first half of the album is fairly consistent with material far more exciting than songs from Broken Boy Soldiers, the second album begins to wane a bit with a few easily skippable tracks ("Attention", "These Stones Will Shout"). It's not that they're particularly bad songs, it's just they simply lack the kinetic, raw drive that Jack White is known to carry along with him whenever he's got a guitar clenched between his albino-white fists.

Now, please don't let this criticism scare you away. In fact let it excite you that the worst songs on the album are only "kind of boring". Which leads me to safely deem many other tracks as pretty freaking awesome. White and Benson definitely hit their stride on many tracks, and not just the ones that sound like White Stripes songs. "Old Enough" is probably the shiniest gem in the jewel box, with an incredibly hooky melodic with a country flare. There's also the triumphant "Many Shades of Black" that implements horns and a great vocal performance by Benson to achieve about four engaging climaxes throughout the song's duration (not to mention a wicked White solo thrown in as well).

And finally, I couldn't go mentioning the stunner of a closer, "Carolina Drama", which finally legitimizes the band's name choice (save yourself some time; def: raconteur = storyteller). The song manages to tell a harrowing and incredibly detailed tale of a boy that steps up to protect his family from his mother's abusive boyfriend, and in doing changes the lives of his entire family. The songcraft is brilliant, lulling us deeper after each verse and building to an incredible finale.

All in all, I'd have to say that Consolers of the Lonely is a big step forward for the band. It certainly has a good amount of tunes that completely blast away their debut LP. However, with a duration that runs almost twice as long, it's frustrating to think how much more solid of an album this would be if three or four songs were left as B-sides. Either way, the album has a lot to offer, and certainly no one can be upset when Jack White is continually putting out material while still in the height of his creative arch.

Key Tracks:
Old Enough
Rich Kid Blues
Carolina Drama

Final Verdict: 8.0

Album Review: The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement

When considering the typical output a modern singer/songwriter tends to put out nowadays, it's safe to say that Alex Turner is one ambitious guy when compared to his peers. Already having put out a pair of fantastic LPs with his UK-conquering, garage-rock revival act the Arctic Monkeys, he's already putting out a side project at 22. And don't let the album's title fool you, this is certainly no light affair. Turner, with the assistance of The Rascals' Miles Kane, has assembled a sweeping and rousing ode to late-60s symphonic pop. The album seems like it would be more appropriately placed during the opening credits sequence of a Sean Connery-Bond outing, rather than frequenting college radio stations.

Turner and Kane muster up much of their lush sound with the tremendous help of the London Metropolitan Orchestra (how's that for being ambitious). While the songs sometimes pale a bit in comparison to the infectiously catchy rock of the Arctic Monkeys, there's no doubt that the sound here is consistently intriguing. Some may be put off by the epic scale that Turner and Kane shoot for here, with a diverse sonic template that never really eases up until the beautiful closer "The Time Has Come Again". However, in the end The Age of the Understatement succeeds on many levels as another credit to add onto Turner's increasingly impressive musical resume.

Key Tracks:
Standing Next To Me
Meeting Place
The Time Has Come Again

Final Verdict: 7.8

Album Review: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

The opening track “Starlings” off of Elbow’s most recent LP perfectly foreshadows the greatness to ensue on one of 2008’s best releases so far. The first 15 seconds begin with a “Day in the Life” accumulation of noise that builds until abruptly halting, only to make way for a gentle, lulling harmony that draws you in to an unknown and unpredictable sonic territory. The song continues to cycle through a bewildering series of building, exploding with horns, and careening strings.

The sound of Manchester’s Elbow can be loosely compared to the dream rock of bands like Doves or Travis, even at times Sigur Ros. But limiting them to just these contemporaries wouldn’t do them justice. One of the main contributors to their unique sound is Guy Garvey, who leads the band with his majestic, Peter Gabriel-esque vocals. His voice leads the way throughout the wondrously diverse soundscapes as if a guiding light shining a path for us to follow. The variety of musical territory explored is breathtaking, ranging from delicately sweeping arrangements (“Mirrorball”) to more crunchy, haunting experiences (“Grounds For Divorce”).

The album is rare in its faultless execution from beginning to end, with a constant draw for the listener as if exploring a series of dreams and not wanting to wake up. Highlights include the cathartic “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver” and the beautiful, almost heavenly “Weather To Fly”. Despite the bands poor name choice, Garvey and his party make no missteps on their epic fourth LP.

Key Tracks:

The Bones of You

The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver

One Day Like This

Final Verdict: 9.3