Review → Bishop Allen – Grrr… (2009)
Bishop Allen - Grrr...
New York-by-way-of-Boston indie-popsters Bishop Allen have returned, with their follow-up to 2007′s The Broken String. This is the band’s first album of all-new material since their 2003 debut, Charm School, as The Broken String was largely re-recorded versions of songs from their year-long EP project.
The first thing a listener will notice is that, overall, this album is lighter and sunnier than The Broken String. While the previous album had a number of songs that painted dark, ominous imagery (perhaps most notable, “Flight 180″), the mood here is much less oppressive. The band has said that this album is something of a return to their Charm School days, though I see it as more of a logical progression from The Broken String. The willingness to experiment with instrumentation found on that album is still there and going strong.
The band doesn’t break a whole lot of new ground, musically, on this record, but at this point, principal songwriters Justin Rice and Christian Rudder have their sound, along with their ear for great hooks, down to a science. The songs here never sound forced, or like filler to pad an EP out to an LP; this is simply Bishop Allen doing what it does best. Once again, Rice handles the lion’s share of vocals, though Darbie, who sang “Butterfly Nets” off The Broken String, here tackles “True or False,” and sounds more confident this time around, though that could just be the more upbeat, bouncy material she’s given here.
The only complaint here is that while the songs are all strong, nothing is really “stand out” on the first few listens. Nothing here has the inescapable charm of “Click, Click, Click, Click,” “Corazon,” or “The News From Your Bed,” though I’d say “Oklahoma” comes closest. For the uninitiated, this could be a grower; it’s certainly not a bad album by any stretch, but it’s not quite as essential as their first two albums. Still, there’s a lot to like here, and this is well worth checking out.
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