How does
J-Church
continue on to crank out album after album in between releasing a boatload of singles and manage to keep the music fresh and exciting? Maybe it's the continual change in drummers or that founding members
Lance
(guitar/vocals) and
Gardner
(bass/vocals) know how to bounce off of each other's creativity -- they have been writing music together since their
Cringer
days in 1985. But in the case of their fourth album,
Arbor Vitae
was recorded and produced by
Frankie Stubbs
(of
Leatherface
fame) who created this production style, making this album crystal. With that and some beautiful backing vocals courtesy of
Julie
, who can normally be found fronting
Eggplant
and occasionally
Wat Tyler
,
redefines
's style of innovative, laid-back pop-punk with the help of keyboards and an acoustical number. They even pull off a song that has authentic handclapping, keeping the beat without scoring high on the cheese factor. ~ Mike DaRonco