Golomb

I’ve had the pleasure of running this one on the speakers for a while now and every spin through gets better and better. The Ohio band taps into several tributaries running out of the indie spring and they weave them together with a deft hand. I know that the band has expressed more affinities for the ‘70s than the ‘90s, but like so many classics from the college rock canon, they seem to be processing the old guard with a taste for interpolation. They chew on the ’70s the way the class of ’94 might have. The band is equally on even ground with power pop as they are with heavier stretches that work the din and dirge. They catapult big pop hooks like GBV (“Staring) or less celebrated cousins Imperial Teen (“Pressure”). They knit spiderwebs of wonder like Built To Spill (“Be Here Now”), showcasing their aptitude for nimble picking and ponderous harmonies. Early single “Real Power” pushes their pop needle towards its limit, crushing dreamy harmonies into crunchy riffs, then taking the listener to indie rock church at the end as they let those voices soar; a euphoric peak that tosses the record off the ledge and catches it in a cushion of pop.

The band continues to knit the spirit of prime period CMJ into a quilt of catharsis over the rest of the album. Their love for Spiritualized comes to full fruition on the creeping darkness of “Dog,” a winking ode to several lyrical motifs from music’s past. They let their love of Let It Bleed twist a little twang into the mix on “Play Music,” swiping at the Southern charms in ways that dig up the ghosts of their inspirations while rolling them in the alt-country crunch of the ‘90s. They take the notions even further as they swerve even more country on the closer, keeping fiddles in chorus with their guitars. With this kind of album lots of listeners might reach for an “uneven” label, but the band’s brilliance is that the record never feels like a jumble of influences, but rather like a scroll through the best freeform radio station. Their left of the dial approach turns The Beat Goes On into a loving homage and a study in alchemy, turning late night YouTube rabbit holes into an album’s worth of gold.

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