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from US Music Vault
Gordan Gano and crew are back after a brief hiatus with this very quirky, somewhat silly, throwaway album. It’s a shame it had to be this way. With songs that hearken to David Byrne and Talking Heads (“Freak Magnet”), Jonathan Richman (“Sleepwalkin’”), and the Ramones (“Mosh Pit”), this disc seems to be a mishmash of styles, leaving the listener empty at the end.
A song like “New Generation” goes nowhere with it’s cute 60’s references (“...sock it to ‘em”, “takin’ over,” “...the new generation really knows what’s happenin’ here"). Seemingly implied comparisons of the sixties and the millennium fall flat, if that’s what the point is at all. I really don’t know. Nor did I care after fifteen minutes of this meandering dreck...I mean, trek.
Luckily, most songs are under three minutes, some even less than two and a half! If you are inclined to this sort of punky, poppy disc, which sounds like it was written over a weekend and recorded in even less time, then go for it. “We are the salt of the Earth / If we’re not salty, what are we worth?” sings Gano. Meaningful lyrics? Right...
I will give them “Happiness Is,” whose entire lyrics read: “I don’t know what one means by happy, I’m happy spasmodically / If I eat a chocolate turtle, I’m happy; when the box is empty, I’m unhappy / When I get another box, I am happy again. Happiness is a word for amateurs.” OK. That’s fun, and there are other glimmers of it here and there on this disc. This being true, I still think (and hope, for my sake) that I have better ways to spend forty-five minutes than trying to uncover a glint of quality amidst so much rehash.