The Canadian indie rock band that made Neko Case a household name is back. The album gets off to a rather upbeat folky start but things get much more interesting for the groove of "Pontius Pilate's Home Movies". The more upbeat strum of "Cat and Mouse With the Light' shows they are capable of feel-good folk rock, but it is when they are more brooding that my ears perk up "Last and Beautiful" not only gets this feel but is a pretty perfectly written song that cements their place as indie rock legends. This album is really well produced, it's juggling many complex layers of sound yet flows smoothly.
The title track is more atmospheric. It lingers on the first minute to set the mood. At a minute and a half, the drums finally kick in to get it moving. They are back to the quaint jangle of acoustic guitars that recall the folk-rock of the 60s on "Marie and the Undersea" . They prove when they are rocking out a little more on a song like 'Angelcover" they are playing more to their strength as a band. It's cool they can capture a wide range of sounds, all of them are effective, some more pleasing to my ears than others.
"Firework in the Falling Snow' sounds like the Shins writing a song for Taylor Swift. It also sounds like they were smoking a ton of pot in the making of this. The last song is driven by its carefree strum, but falls on the more upbeat side of emotions when I think these guys are more interesting when they are more emotionally complex and possibly really stoned. I will give this sonic tug-of-war of an album a 9, they are great songwriters who really excelled at crafting this.
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