The apocalypse may gradually be upon us, but this 12th album by the North Carolina indie-rockers is the perfect antidote, offering black humour and chin-up optimism with fabulous tunes, wry lyrics and a musical complexion of dappled light. Like someone blinking in the light after lockdown, opener City of the Dead, with lovely acoustic guitar riff and orchestral swings includes the line “I’ll still make the coffee/And we still make the beds” sung by frontman Mac McCaughan. Endless Summer sounds like a breezy number, and while it has that feel musically, with rich vocal harmonies that echo the style of Teenage Fanclub or Eels, the twist is the refrain “I’m not ready for an endless summer”. Other standouts include On The Floor, This Night, Wild Loneliness, and If You’re Not Dark - “carving out of space a different kind of grace”. There is plenty of dark, but still some light to enjoy, and this album is also heady throwback to 1990s indie in mood and sound, if only other things are now as they were then. Out on Merge Records.
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