David Lowery
and
Victor Krummenacher
of
Camper Van Beethoven
first started making music together in the Southern California city of Redlands, but the band really came together Santa Cruz, in the northern part of the Golden State, and it's not hard to get a sense of where the group's greater loyalties lie by comparing their two concept albums about life in California, 2013's
La Costa Perdida
and 2014's
El Camino Real
. While
was a relatively loose and upbeat celebration of Northern California,
focuses on the southern part of the state, and the tone and mood are significantly different. The best numbers on
are generally the most somber, especially the bitter lament of "Sugartown," the drifter's narrative of "Grasshopper," and the country-styled tale of broken hearts and bad luck "Darken Your Door." It doesn't take long to figure out the men of
have a lot more fun up north, though
finds them playing with a technical skill that puts their early classics to shame. Plenty of Californians spend hours arguing the virtues of Los Angeles vs. San Francisco, and
were wise enough to make these two albums a more richly detailed conversation than that, but a couple spins of
makes it obvious these guys are on the same side as
Tony Bennett
in this debate. ~ Mark Deming