It takes about 5 seconds into one of the year's most anticipated indie releases to find a shocking revelation: this album rocks. Their brilliant 2006 record, Yellow Houses, was great for a lot of reasons - its atmospheric textures, its cascading woodwinds, its creepy meandering song structures - but it certainly didn't rock. "Southern Point" starts off with driving acoustic rhythms that could be from a Grateful Dead album, and when the drums come in you can feel the rhythm. The song moves through more drum transitions and a guitar freak out. Did any of these things happen on Yellow Houses? Not really. But it's definitely the work of the same brilliant band.
"Two Weeks" is a harmonic pop song based on a simple piano line and "Fine For Now" is a soulful mid-tempo rocker with a jazz rhythm for the verses. Four tracks in, there is more to remember and more to hum along with than anything they've ever released. It doesn't stop there: "About Face" is a gorgeous ballad that is as catchy as it is understated. "While You Wait For The Others" is bluesy rock that would fit on modern rock radio (that is, if they ever made room for a band that is trying and isn't named Green Day). There are some great atmospheric tracks here for the experimental-minded: "I Live With You" builds slowly to brilliant harmonies and crashing guitars before shifting back to being a symphonic ballad. If Van Dyke Parks collaborated with Jack White, this is what they would come up with.
This album feels like an already brilliant and accomplished band turning yet another corner. The idea of mixing Americana, electronics, and unconventional song structures hasn't been done this effectively since Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and this is every bit as good. Here's a contender for album of the year: get this album now.
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