This band has matured in a streamlined manner over the years, but maintained the James Mercer from the Shins joins prog-like sense of adventure and storytelling that set them apart from other indie rock bands. hem for the opening track. The melody works well enough, and it's organically layered with warm sounds. They take you for a tango on the infectious "Oh No !". The Afro-Cuban jazz stylings establish a groove that is more effective than what you might expect from such a pairing. "the Reapers' is when the prog really buckles in to take you on a ride. Until this point, while eclectic, they were just dipping their toes into styles, taking you back to the 70s with this one. Flutes wander around. Except for the last song they keep the songs to a reasonable length and feel free to leave things out.
There is a country feel to "Long White Veil". It sits well with the wheelhouse of what you might expect from them along with the story it tells. "William Fitzwilliam" falls along the lines where folk meets country music with a sense of Appalachia. It is almost more of a ballad. "Don't Go to the Woods" is a somber folk ballad, that reflects back to some of the darker moods they have contemplated earlier in their careers. They continue to strum away on "Black Maria" and get more contemplative of the folk tales they are spinning. It is hard to argue against what works, but I wonder if they fired their drummer. " All I Want Is You" is their take on a sappy love song, which is what it is, all love songs are sappy.
"Born in the Morning" is the most Beatles-influenced moment I recall ever hearing from the band. It works for what it is, but it is beginning to sound like, while they are getting the job done it might not be their most inspired album if we are measuring it against "Picaresque". Then they hit you with a 70s-influenced pop song that sounds like something you would listen to riding your bike through Central Park with "America Made Me": "Tell Me What's On Your Mind" sounds influenced by solo George Harrison, "My Sweet Love" to be honest, but still carries the band's identity which is a display of how they make some of these stylistic choices wisely. "Never Satisfied" finds them back flirting with country music again. It works for what it is. Not the most inspired moment of the album.
They end the album with the 20-minute "Joan in the Garden". A twenty-minute song is a lot to consume so I am going to break this down in chunks. The first two minutes is a folk ballad. A well-produced one since like the bulk of this album all the sounds are dialed in to perfection. Then for two minutes after this they build the ambiance around this folk melody until it reaches a Pink Floyd-like synth state it begins to melt into the following two minutes. This Pink Floyd tribute swells to an impressive sonic state. At the ten-minute mark, they have allowed things to break down into faint ambient noise so everything after should be another track. Then they go into a noise section that sounds like it should be on a Swans album and drone it out for six minutes. This builds into a harder rock jam that could be on a Thin Lizzy album. I would like to hear an entire album of this kind of thing from them. I will give this album a 9.5, as the strong moments balance it, though it falls slightly short of their best work. Which still makes it better than most bands.
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